Technology, people, and problems: how to architect solutions

In a recent episode of the First Person podcast  we met with Stephen Kaufman, who has spent 25 years architecting solutions on behalf of Microsoft. Stephen told us that his defining characteristic is curiosity, and how his first memory was of taking things apart and putting them back together, more or less successfully. He explained how that led him to a hobby in computers which in turn led him to a computer science degree. He chose to major in both marketing and computers, because for him success is in solving problems with technology, for people.

In this conversation and article we look at how successful technology solutions involved understanding the people involved and the problem to be solved, and then applying technology based on hands on experience and testing. As Stephen told us: “I am a technologist. I love solving problems. I love using technology to match with business problems and find solutions.”

You can view our interview here, listen to it here, or watch in the box below:

Solving problems, getting started

So how did Stephen get here?

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I went to the university,” he told us. “It was always interesting to me to interact with people and figure out what do people want and how do you really put it together.”

And his advice for those starting out? “Be curious, get hands on, understand both the technology and interacting with people. That is going to really be essential as you go throughout the career with trying to understand requirements and solutions and figuring out what the problems are.” (See also: How to be a great Chief Product Officer.)

The architect’s mindset

Stephen explained to us that his makeup makes for the perfect architect. A mix of curiosity, interest in people and their problems, and deep thirst to understand technologies top to bottom. He said that applying technology to solve a problem means you need to understand both.

“I’m just curious,” he said. “I want to know how things work. Creating an application or creating a solution. How do you match what those requirements are that customers are looking for? How do you be creative to come up with solutions that meet their needs?”

“Here are the choices. Here are the trade-offs. Here is why this might not work.”

“You learn technologies, you learn ways to interact with customers, you learn what’s needed,” Stephen said. “I read to get an umbrella picture of something. But then I get hands on. I go play with the technology and see how it works.”

Stephen was interested in the way that organizations are approaching AI. He said he feels that some organizations are asking ‘how can we use AI’ rather than ‘how do we solve this problem, and could AI help?’.

“AI is driving lots of perceived need and need within organizations,” Stephen told us. “Does it fit or doesn’t it fit? Is this the right solution? Are we doing things because it’s the trend or because that’s what’s really needed?” (See also: how to be a successful startup founder.)

The job of a solutions architect

In the end for Stephen, the satisfaction comes from understanding people, problems and technology. Then using tech to solve problems. We asked him to describe his role.

“Help the customers really understand what the solution could be or what the technology is and what it isn’t,” he said. “Then helping them come up with some of the decisions.”

He told us that a lot of his role revolves around building trust and relationships with his customers.

“Trust is an important aspect, especially in technology,” he said. “Tech is only one portion of it. But it’s really about listening to customers and understanding what are they trying to achieve. Is this a pain point or is this something that they’re trying to change a business process or get into new markets?”

“Listening to the customer about what they’re trying to achieve is as important as the technology and as the solution,” Stephen told us. “If this was wrong, what are some of the other things that I thought I knew? Did I make an assumption? Then you start to validate and you start to question. You go through other use cases.”

And when a solution is found and implemented, that’s when Stephen wins.

“The greatest thing for me is the satisfaction of seeing something be implemented successfully,” he told us. “Where the customer is elated by what was done, the impact it had, and the benefits that come from that. It is amazing how much joy comes from that successful implementation.”

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