Summary
In this chapter, we have reviewed the different types of architects and then focused on data architects, their responsibilities, and the technical and soft skills that are needed to be successful in the role. I hope you have gained a much greater appreciation of what data architects are and how critical their role is in organizations these days. We also reviewed some of the benefits of architecture, which will have convinced you, if you weren't already, that having a proper architecture for a project is a key ingredient for success.
We then reviewed the barriers to effective communication and the use of the seven Cs of communication to help us be effective in our communications. This should give you an objective way to formulate your responses and evaluate the areas where you can improve your communication skills. From my experience, a key challenge that technical folks face is tailoring their communication depending on their audience. The ladder of abstraction is an excellent tool to help you understand your audience so that you can tailor your communication to increase its understanding and acceptability. Remember, the end goal of communication is to convey the information the way you intended it and have it accepted by the audience that is being communicated with.
The role of a data architect is increasingly important and exciting and comes with a lot of challenges and growth. I encourage you to join your local chapter of DAMA, which is a global not-for-profit organization that is committed to advancing the concepts of information and data management. They are vendor-agnostic and cover a variety of topics that influence data.
In the next chapter, we will review fundamental concepts related to objects in Salesforce and the different field types and relationships. Next, we will review data modeling in Salesforce and why you should unlearn some of your learnings if you have worked with relational databases before. At the end, we will take a look at the Salesforce architecture and the different components that work together seamlessly to deliver an optimal user experience.
