New Curriculum Version of CPSA‑A® Module SOFT Published

The revised CPSA‑A® module SOFT is now officially valid and intro­duces signif­icant updates. Key changes include new topics like stake­holder management and decision-making, a disclaimer allowing flexible methods to achieve learning objectives, and updated learning objectives aligned with current requirements.

In the following interview, Kim Nena Duggen, the curator of the SOFT module, answers key questions about the new curriculum and provides insights into its devel­opment and benefits for software architects.

What were the main motiva­tions and objectives for revising the CPSA Advanced module Soft Skills for Software Archi­tects (SOFT) curriculum, and what specific changes were made?

Although the research of the methods used in SOFT does not change as quickly as in more hard-skill-heavy technical curricula, the SOFT curriculum needed a few revisions after its last release in 2015, mainly because we want to standardize all curricula in the area of formal criteria and learning objectives. This necessary update was used to make further updates to the content at the same time. After collecting feedback from trainers who regularly hold SOFT, two things in particular were changed: a disclaimer was added that allows trainers to use the methods mentioned, but at the same time leaves them free to achieve the learning objectives using other methods. In addition, virtual meeting methods have been explicitly added to the moder­ation and visual­ization topic block. In addition, the topics of stake­holder management and decision-making were also included.

What new emphasis has been placed on commu­ni­cation skills and why do you think these are partic­u­larly relevant for software architects?

In practice, we experience that one of the biggest challenges for software archi­tects is that they have to commu­nicate with an extremely large number of stake­holders and reconcile very different interests and needs. We have therefore added the topic of stake­holder management and, above all, the analysis and derivation of suitable means of commu­ni­cation more explicitly to the curriculum. In addition, we believe it is important for software archi­tects to concep­tu­alize and decide together with devel­opers, especially in agile, self-organized teams, in order to increase commitment to imple­men­tation. Sometimes the appro­priate tools are missing. Decision-making sometimes seems slow and the default of making decisions alone seems more efficient. To counteract this, we have included decision-making tools for groups.

The updated curriculum empha­sizes practical exercises and examples. Can you give specific examples of how these exercises are imple­mented in training courses?

Designing exercises didac­ti­cally is the individual task of the trainers. What we wanted to emphasize with the updated curriculum is that software archi­tects should not only know methods and tools, but above all be able to use them appro­pri­ately. In addition, we consider it essential to reflect on one’s own behavior in commu­ni­cation and in critical situa­tions. For this reason, the learning objectives and time alloca­tions are delib­er­ately designed to provide plenty of room for exercises and self-reflection. Working on examples from the partic­i­pants’ own practice is recom­mended, especially to ensure initial improve­ments and transfer during the training.

What reactions do you expect to the new version?

Since the content is strongly oriented towards the feedback of the trainers and thus their previous graduates, we expect that trainers will find the new curriculum more practical to implement. Above all, the possi­bility of using recom­mended but above all their own tools and methods to achieve the learning objectives enables a more individual imple­men­tation of the training in the practice of the trainers and their participants.