I've only worked for one (software) firm which was large enough to have someone on staff who were responsible for "architecting", and I mostly thought they were idiots.<p>I think that if you are competent enough to build any part of your project, but can still understand the big picture and have some appreciation for elegance and beauty in a design, you've got the basic idea.<p>I think architects are also better trained at accurately sizing up time requirements and logistics, for an entire project, and at being aware of time and money and arbitrary client constraints.<p>And I think architects are trained a lot more in presenting their ideas to hostile audiences, which gives a lot of insight into taking and giving criticism, and finding the flaws in your projects and designs before they ever reach a client.