When we are faced with an architectural gap – I see two main ways of addressing it…
- Build the system – the system will provide solutions to the problems;
- Fixing the issues – leading to constant patching, while not solving the problem itself.
I would say, the first one is reflecting architectural thinking – strategic, holistic and systematic… System is not one process, or one person, or one tool – it does not address only one “problem”… It is whole body of knowledge, and collective of all resources working together – as per specific (prescribed) governance – joined in achieving common goals.
Key words here are: “governance”, “framework”, “architectural thinking”, “building the solution”.
The second one, this is much more common approach… No wonder, as this approach is creating “heroes” – constantly working, constantly “fixing”, constantly at service (ready to support) – but capturing all knowledge within the “silo”, so they are constantly in demand. Naturally, “heroes” are not a great fans of the “system”… In fact, intentionally or unintentionally, they are nursing the problem itself – thus they can very often be part of the problem as well.
Key words here are: “silo thinking”, “ persisting the problem”.
For me, real “hero” is the one who architect the “system” – knowing that his/her services will no longer be needed for “fixing” the same problem… This “hero” will proceed further and embrace some new challenges and problems to resolve in the systematic manner. And “heroes” are all those who were supporting and building the “system”, as well… Those people should be given the well deserved credit, as they are part of the building the solution, not part of the persisting the problem…
Is my statement a bit too strong?
Maybe… Anyway, this is how I see it…
Acknowledgment
*) Intro photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
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