The right architecture can make or break a project, or an entire company. Participants will learn what architects do, why it is important, and some tips on how to talk about architecture with stakeholders. We'll start with some definitions and case study examples of how architecture supports business goals. We'll dig into how an architecture's separation of concerns helps us deal with complexity. We'll look at some rules of thumb for creating good architectures and how to incorporate architecture into agile projects, and finish up with a map of architecture-centric processes.