Back...

After a long absence from the blog, I am back to it.

I have spent a couple of months heads down focusing on management issues, most of them consequences of the way my current employer has chosen to face the current crisis. Typical 'protect the EPS' reaction.

I posted earlier on the counter-cyclists, and the reasons why it makes a lot of sense to manage good times better so that we can manage bad times in a strategic way and benefit from the exit from downturns rather than play catch up. It looks simple on paper - I am certain it's more difficult than that - but I have to say my growing experience with upper management does not give me the feeling this requires anything else than thinking strategically rather than tactical. Where this fails is when upper management is mercenary upper management: on board for 2 to 5 years and not interested in long term growth.

This is important for us software architects - not just because of the obvious impact on our continued employment, but also because architecture is strategic, and gets sacrificed at the altar of short term tactical moves. This is obvious to say, again, and obvious to understand, but it still amazes me how selective corporate perception is, and how little care is given to preserving corporate memory.

I will for a while - hopefully - stop blogging about this kind of thing. And go back to more technical stuff - however difficult it is to do in abstract of the overall situation...