“Who” Creates Risk
Costello: Well then who's on first? Abbott: Yes. Costello: I mean the fellow's name. Abbott: Who. Costello: The guy on first. Abbott: Who. Costello: The first baseman. Abbott: Who. Costello: The guy playing... Abbott: Who is on first!
Today’s blog is triggered by the entry authored by my friend and colleague, Ben Sommer, reflecting on the laziness of describing architecture with pronouns. In our roles as architects, IT strategists, or just technical leaders guiding successful project implementations we frequently find ourselves defining plans and parceling out tasks.
Don’t Hide Behind Pronouns!
“Ya know…we send them stuff”
Let’s admit first off what none of us want to admit – that most of us have forgotten what exactly a “pronoun” is…
Its basically any use of “you”, “we”, “them”, “they”, etc. – unspecific references to people or actors in a conversation or past event being discussed.
Believe it or not – the lazy use of pronouns is a huge problem in the field of IT architecture & design, and even business analysis.
Example:
- Bob is a project architect at a college facilitating a workshop for the design of an interface between two systems
- In describing the current flow of information between the two systems, Bob states that “We send them a file nightly”.
Who is “we” and “them”? Bob needs to specifically state it. Read more
Value-driven Status
If you work in a professional environment, you inevitably have to communicate the status of your work to your manager. If you are in the professional services business, then you have an even tougher “manager” – your client.
The Solution Architect’s Path to Success
Welcome to today’s blog. Sit back and relax. Close your eyes. Take some deep relaxing breaths. Envision a Utopian architecture project delivery:
- Scope is clear and agreed upon,
- Requirements are carefully crafted,
- Read more