Apparently Architecture is Scary

I had a deeply perplexing and strangely curious occurrence happen today that made me realise just how scary good architectural reasoning is to those with the check (Cheque for my European friends)books and potentially to those who are marketing to those with the check books.

I was recently asked to facilitate a session at the @IT Leadership Forum hosted in Amsterdam by United Leaders , an event management organization. The event is a wonderful idea is to get IT leaders together to discuss technology and trends etc. I was frankly very impressed with the quality of the staff and their goals. I was also very happy to help as I get asked to do these things regularly and I always have a wonderful time hearing stories and getting leaders to really dig deep.

As the day came closer, I was in contact with the event leader, who again was extremely thorough and invested. Iasa has been so busy supporting our communities and programs, it was really nice to attend a forum hosted by someone else. Fewer checklists and lots of good conversation. However, the event had decided because their two keynotes wanted to facilitate the sessions that they did not need me to host. Whew! Wow I get to be just an attendee... what a privelege!

So today I get cleaned up after having cleared my calendar for a month (and cancelled a client trip to Sweden) to attend this very prestigious event... and you have probably guessed the punch line. I was told that the two sponsors felt that I and Iasa were 'too competitive to their models'. That they had 'looked into me’ and felt Iasa would not be beneficial to the view of their attendees 'because of our views'. Right there in the lobby of the Victoria in central Amsterdam, I was politely asked to leave the building! Wow! Bam! Im sorry sir but a small non-profit with nothing but the health of architecture as a profession is a big old scary threat our business model to whatever secret agenda we might have... In 22 years of profession I have never quite had that level of 'in your face' behavior...

The Fear of Vendor Neutral Decisions

So here is the question? Barring personal traits (I am not usually very disruptive at public events, shower regularly, and dress acceptably) what could possibly make two global vendors want to keep out a non-profit leader who works regularly with their customers to create architectural excellence? I wonder... hmmm? Should I just ask them? Ok...

So, @Eva Chen, at Trend Micro , and Raymond Kok at Mendix , what do you think? Is there something in architecture that worries you? Or maybe your staff? If it is just my personal approach that’s fine, I can accept that, just let me know what doesn't resonate, as a guest at an event I will be happy to keep the rhetoric levels low. But could you let me know that before I get invited and clear my busy schedule? And what should I tell Iasa members? Before I cancel an important client engagement? What about other architect teams?

Iasa does host conferences with a lot of leaders in security and we also have members who have a lot of impact on low code decisions, so maybe we are competition? Im not sure I get that logic. Maybe because we are about to launch our Security Architecture career path, training and certification... nah no one knows that yet. Maybe also it is that we just we are not important enough. We certainly don’t have big budgets to spend on tech (I do really miss those).

But I think it might be something else. Something a lot of us architects are familiar with. Architects are often kept out of the decisioning party. It is MUCH easier to sell to some IT managers (there are plenty of tough ones as well) and business managers without all those pesky architecturally relevant principles, decision records and value-based reasoning. And the vendors ARE paying for the party... hmmm.

It is important to realize the fear that good architecture creates. It creates visibility where there is none. It shines the light on actual spend. It cherishes high-quality rational decisions over emotionally-biased ones or market-ecture. Many of the worlds vendors already know this and have worked to align pre-sales architects to the equation. Ones that are driven based on customer outcomes and not just sales quotas. They know that a successful sale is actually based on the value their client creates with their technology, not just the quarterly results. Hopefully your vendors have this! And hopefully you will drive them to it if they dont.

Whatever the reason, I ended with an age old feeling. If you are doing your best, and you are making the people in power nervous, you must be doing the right thing. @Evan Chen, @TrendMicro, and @Raymond Kok at @Mendix perhaps you might be interested in jumping on a podcast with me to discuss!?

Keep in Mind Your Stakeholders

This situation reminded me distinctly of numorous stories that I hear constantly from members. Great architecture, early on, often threatens entrenched stakeholders. Those used to power in technology spend, in framing business outcomes, or even just with enough seniority, do not always respond well to transformation. Especially transformation that potentially threatens their centralized control. And yet, it is exactly this transformation agenda that makes great architecture so effective at modernizing companies! It is the core of digital, agile and business change to keep up with ever transforming world of business and technology. Great architects challenge themselves and their stakeholders to think differently. To grow business models that are based on new customers alive in a digital age. But always keep in mind who holds the purse strings.

And for you exectives out there! Make sure you want to keep the company as it is if you aren't prepared to unearth ineffective decisions in technology. Truly tranformational leaders have to be completely committed to transparency. To changing hearts and minds. To growing the perspective of your management to understand that technology is reshaping every business in the world. And you need ethically driven, highly competent architects to help make that happen!

... The Views in my newsletter are my own and do not represent Iasa, our members or architects in general...

Sorry to all for the extra article this week. It was simply to interesting not to share. My regular article will be out late this week... Product and Solution Approaches to Architecture and Engineering... Its a bit of a longer one so stay tuned.

By the way if there are any untouchable topics that are relevant to architects, please send them my way!