In my job, my title is “Solution Architect”. We are working on getting our financial stuff up to snuff and I chuckle to myself every time I enter that as my title.
How did a precocious young woman, who didn’t know what she wanted to do and therefore majored in nothing specific, end up as an “Architect”?
During my recent job search, I realized that different companies had different definitions of Architect. They included:
- Domain specialist
- Planner/designer of a solution (my favorite)
- Designer who also manages a team who executes on the work being done
- Person who can do everything we throw at them (usually matched the job description)
Architect work is extremely valuable when fit into a business model appropriately. While architects aren’t typically in the executive suite (C-Suite), they absolutely inform the top and make decisions that are visionary, expansive, and determine the velocity of growth at a company.
As a parent of a household, and in my particular marriage, I am an architect of my home. I fit this in while being co-CEO and COO (Chief of Operations). I like this title a lot better than “homemaker” which is so banal as to be presumed to be a stereotypical woman’s place of drudgery to others.
As the architect of the home, my vision informs how we run our household, eat, sleep, recreate, celebrate Sabbath and other milestones, vision our future, and achieve our mission (holiness). I advise (myself and my husband, the other co-CEO) on how to roadmap for our future and make budgetary appropriations accordingly.
I also act as the scrum master, ensuring our sprints (work being done) are effective, timely, and prioritized. In that capacity, I act as a bouncer — ensuring that people and opportunities that don’t align with our mission and current sprint (work) are not prioritized (aka, I say “no, not now” a lot).
This is critical work. I have worked on myself (nutrition, meditation, relaxation, anger management) and this is bearing great fruit in terms of clarity in my work as a home architect. Our family is more focused and relaxed, has more downtime, sees family and friends more often, and it feels like we are making progress toward holiness. Praise God for the skill and the focus to make holiness an architecture and design strategy that we lead with and work toward rather than an afterthought!
Let us pray:
Loving God, chief engineer of all creation,
Thank you for the opportunity to build alongside You.
Give me eyes to see, a heart to love, and a mind to envision the dream of my life with you.
Guide my architecture with your design principles of love, peace, and joy.
Let me build spaces where humanity flourishes, rests, and embraces the challenge to reach our potential. Environments crafted in love that direct us to our intrinsic cherished nature as Your prized children.