Semprini

Now, I'm not quite sure if that's a click batey title or not. I guess I see it as subverting expectations, because you see dear reader, I'll be arguing for the proposition that anarchy is a good model of operating IT in a large enterprise.

Bollocks! I hear you roar, or possibly chuckle to yourself if I'm not engaging in hyperbole. But none the less, I expect that you think it's a case of another architect, up in their ivory tower smelling their own farts.

Now, lets see if I can extricate myself from this hole that I've dug shall we?

The hint is in the name people. Proof of Concept. Why is this so difficult to understand? The point of a PoC is to show that a thing can be done, not how a thing can be done. I.e. we don't know something but we have an idea - awesome, I'm here to help. Where I seem to part ways is when the PoC plans to deliver best practice architecture, continuous delivery and push the code & pipelines into production.

Everyone is far too willing to flash them about.

I must be getting too old for this shit dear reader, and my deteriorating brain must not be able to appreciate the magnificence that is modern corporate IT. Despite my galloping senility, I shall attempt to marshal my outdated thinking on why we often feel like hamsters in a wheel, destined to never actually get anywhere but with ever increasing demand to go faster.

One must occasionally rant. And when that cathartic wave has crashed and some of the built up cynicism washed away, hopefully the receding waters leave a perspective for a pragmatic path forward.

Enterprise architectures should represent the very best of what we can and should strive for, encourage the business and staff to reach higher and push us to see beyond the boundaries and limitations of the current landscape. I guess what it comes down to is that there's good IT and bad IT and we have become overwhelmed by a sales machine - both internal and external, which advertises one but actually delivers the other. Its not a matter of subscribing to the latest method, programme or ethos - it's about understanding the subtle idiosyncrasies and the sympathetic treatment of people, process and technology. Leaning into the complex problems, and sometimes having the courage and integrity to defend work which doesn't have an immediate payoff.