Mike GrayI have a confession to make.
Recently, I’ve been questioning whether I’ve lost some love for technology, engineering culture, and so on, and I’ve been struggling to reflect on why. Some of you may have noticed that, lately, I’ve been a bit absent.
Now you know why!
Well, I’m currently on my honeymoon and have found some headspace to reflect. It turns out I haven’t lost my love for technology, engineering culture, etc., at all.
In fact, I’ve started reading a book (which I was terrible at reviewing — sorry, @ahl!), Facilitating Software Architecture by Andrew Harmel-Law. The passion is very much still there; I am reading it and loving every word.
It is incredibly relatable, and I find myself nodding along — much to the annoyance of my now-wife, who gets frustrated when she’s trying to talk to me, and I don’t even hear her!
It’s within this that I’ve discovered what’s been draining me.
I haven’t lost my love of technology or software culture, but applying it in complex organisational systems that fundamentally approach things differently has been exhausting. These are systems where process and control are paramount.
There is a conflict here, and it is very much my job to balance this conflict and try to align engineering culture, architecture practices, etc., within this complex environment.
In smaller companies and previous economic climates, this balance is easier to achieve.
However, as companies grow and strive to become “well-oiled machines,” combined with the macroeconomic climate of squeezing every efficiency — measuring everything and accounting for every penny — this balance is becoming increasingly difficult to find.
Across the industry, more processes are being put in place to enhance efficiency, and there is mounting pressure on people like myself to do the same in functions such as architecture.