Put Down the Wrench: The Psychological Shift of Becoming a Solutions Architect
Why stepping out of the Workday tenant and into the boardroom is the hardest (and can be the most rewarding) transition in HR Tech.
tldr; Transitioning from a Workday builder to an Architect isn't about learning new modules. It's a brutal psychological shift from fixing technical tickets to navigating corporate politics.
Last week, a reader sent me a message that perfectly captures the mid-career HR Tech existential crisis:
"Mike, I've been a Workday Analyst for years. I know the config inside and out. I can build complex calc fields in my sleep. But how do I actually make the jump to Solutions Architect?"
If you’ve spent the last decade deep in the Workday trenches, you know the feeling. There is a very specific, god-tier thrill that comes from untangling a hopelessly knotted calculated field, executing a flawless EIB, or finally getting that complex condition rule to fire perfectly on the first try.
My answer to them was simple: The hardest part of the transition isn't memorizing the latest release notes or learning a new module. It’s the psychological shift. You are no longer the master builder; you are the city planner. And frankly, that adjustment is jarring.
Here is what that transition actually looks and feels like:
The Muscle Memory Trap
For the first six months, your own instincts will betray you. When a broken process lands on your desk, your muscle memory will scream at you to log in, roll up your sleeves, and fix it in ten minutes. As an architect, you have to fight that urge. Your job is no longer to turn the wrench. Your job is to guide, mentor, and trust your analysts to do it. It requires a tremendous amount of discipline to sit on your hands and keep them off the keyboard.
Trading the Keyboard for the Gavel
Welcome to the "herding cats" phase of your career. You are no longer just building a single house; you are heading up the zoning committee. You will find yourself in rooms with several different functional VPs—Talent, Payroll, and Finance—who all have fiercely competing priorities and want to build extensions on the exact same property. Your primary function is to get them to agree on the property lines. You are the referee, the mediator, and the ultimate guardian of the system's scalability.
Chief Translation Officer
The most critical skill in your new arsenal isn't knowing the exact syntax of a business process definition. It is the ability to translate complex, interwoven Workday architecture into plain English. When an executive asks for a "simple" new dashboard, you have to look them in the eye and calmly explain why their "simple" request will actually create a downstream data apocalypse for the Integrations team. You are the bridge between executive ambition and technical reality.
The Kitchen Table Reality Check
How do you know if you've actually made the leap from analyst to architect? Try the kitchen table test. Sit down at dinner and try explaining the business impact of your latest design to a normal human. I use my 11-year-old son, Justin. If I can make it make sense without using the words "reference ID," "calc field," or "EIB," I'm acting as an architect. If I'm just listing off configuration steps and tenant setups, I'm still stuck in the analyst mindset. Architecture is about translating system design into real-world business value.
The Instant Gratification Desert
Because you aren't closing out configuration tickets every day, the instant gratification is gone. The quick wins are spread much further apart. You have to learn how to redefine success. Your new "win" is looking at a beautifully designed, scalable, cross-module blueprint that you fought tooth and nail to get approved—knowing it will keep the system running smoothly for the next five years. It is delayed gratification in its purest form.
The Bottom Line
Stepping into an architecture role means accepting that your hardest days will no longer be about the technology itself. They will be about the people, the politics, and the processes that surround the technology.
If you can let go of the instant gratification of the tenant and master the art of the blueprint, the impact you make won't just solve a single ticket; it will resonate across the entire enterprise.
— Mike
Director HR Tech | Reformed Wrench-Turner