Business & Soft Skills
Stakeholder communication, trade-off analysis, governance, and technical leadership
Requirements ElicitationFunctional vs non-functional, user stories, epics, acceptance criteria, MoSCoW›Stakeholder CommunicationTailoring message for executives vs engineers, architecture reviews, decision papers›Trade-Off AnalysisCost vs complexity vs risk matrices, feasibility assessment, PoC scoping›Build vs Buy vs SaaSTCO, vendor lock-in risk, integration effort, strategic alignment›Vendor EvaluationRFP/RFI process, proof of concept, reference checks, SLA negotiation›Architecture GovernanceArchitecture review boards (ARBs), standards, guardrails, exception process›Risk ManagementTechnical debt risk, security risk register, vendor dependency risk›Documentation StandardsC4 diagrams, API docs (OpenAPI), runbooks, decision logs, onboarding guides›Agile at ScaleSAFe, LeSS, Spotify model, PI Planning, architectural runway›Technical LeadershipEngineering excellence culture, mentoring, code review standards›Innovation & Emerging TechHorizon scanning, PoC frameworks, technology radar (ThoughtWorks model)›Cost Optimization MindsetFinOps culture, cloud spend governance, cost as architectural quality attribute›Regulatory & CompliancePrivacy by design, data classification, audit trails, engaging legal early›Communication Under PressureIncident communication templates, exec escalation, status page updates›