Software architect community in Bangalore is largely a disgruntled lot says Yuva – Part 2

In part 1 of my conversation with Chief Test Architect, Yuvaraj “Yuva” Athur Raghuvir, talked about his current role and about the architecture validation process. In this second part, we will see how Yuva’s career evolved and his movement from a “development manager” to “Chief Test Architect” role.

Vinay: How did your career evolve? And at when did your specialization get defined?

Yuva: I started my career in 1996 in K&V which was acquired by SAP 1999. In K&V, my first work was in the area of CASE tools. Here you model the application on certain framework and then you generate source from the model. When SAP acquired K&V, I was asked to look into the area of repository design related to application repository services (later called mobile application repository).

When I moved from CASE tools to repository, my domain was still not clear. My domain expertise in the area of logistics software design crystallized 2-3 years down the line. In 2001 I became development manager for the same team, responsible for development and delivery of meta-data repository. Initially I was managing a group of about 8 people and a project. Over the years I started managing 2 more projects and team size increased to 25. That is when I got interested in the area of test architecture.

Vinay: What were the exciting moments you recall in this journey?

Yuva: First thing was design of the mobile application repository. To build a versioning system on the relational database with an object oriented access. To also manage the amount of database loading you need to do, how you split the object. It was cool.

After that it was largely in talent management space. It is to figure out how to handle the churn in the team, and ensure that quality is not compromised. Giving people option to grow within the group, offer them option to go out of the group when you don’t have appropriate position for them to grow, all this was exciting. I consistently got good feedback through the 360 degree feedback process.

Vinay: What was challenging in talent management?

Yuva: I always thought myself as an introvert (focused on doing my work). So to move out of that space and learn to interact with people and then manage people were some of the key milestones in my professional career. These things made a big difference in transitioning me from a primarily academic oriented person to a professional technical leader. And in this context, handling people issues at an emotional level and professional level was challenging. Situation would typically be like this: Organization has priority changes, there is change in focus and I need to re-focus the group to deliver the best. So how to manage the low times and high times in a way that people are constantly motivated to deliver their best.

Vinay: In spite of you having natural talent to manage people, you moved to a role where people management is not a predominant part of your role. What was the driving force behind this shift?

Yuva: At certain stage in managing people, as things were in place, I started having significant amount of free time. During that time I started dabbling in architecture. I was creating some new software, started reading about different architectures and playing with it. Then I realized that just managing performance and communication was not giving me enough satisfaction. So a stage came where I could do management well but it was not exciting any more. This is when I asked myself “Which is the area I really enjoy myself working?” And “architecture” kind of popped in my mind. I spent significant amount of time researching about “quality attribute scenarios” and role of the process. I went through SAP sigma and now I am also certified SAP Sigma Black-Belt.

Vinay: Which year did you make this choice?

Yuva: When I took this decision, my overall experience with the organization was 8 years which included 4 years of management experience. I realized what interests me: innovation, strategy and architectures.

Vinay: What is your view on collaboration with academia and special interest groups in this kind of role?

Yuva: To be frank, this area of architecture has not been able to take firm root in India. Let me tell you an experience. There was this “Architecture World ‘07” conference where I presented on architecture issues with regards to quality of software. I went there and spoke about quality attribute scenarios and product lines. After some point in time I realized I was disconnecting with the audience. So I asked them “What is your problem?” So they said, “As architects we don’t have a choice. In 2 days we have to send the proposal”. In a service based organization, the importance of architecture for a solution is vastly undermined. So I would say the architect community within Bangalore is a disgruntled lot. I find it difficult to go and talk about new thoughts because they are so operationally tied down with the dissatisfaction they have today. So I find many forums gravitating to crib-sessions rather than forward looking thoughts. I personally believe there are very good people around. But I don’t know how to find them.

I work closely with SAP research group. SAP research has strong ties with excellent universities in the US and Europe. However, research work is far deep and has 10 year horizon. I still see disconnect between research lab and business group. This is what I am trying to do: Get a few ideas from SAP research, get a few ideas from the prototyping groups and help the requirements group and the architecture group.

Vinay: What will your advice “budding technical leaders”?


Yuva: I personally believe spending 5 to 6 years in an organization in a specific domain is a huge value add. It brings you the clarity about how to think in the domain, how to deliver. Jumping too often for 30% or 50% hike is good as long as you are able to manage the domain growth.