The Dietitians of Info-Sharing
While a few would doubt the practical applications of a software architect’s role — as well as its leadership side which I’ve explored previously —we are likely to face more than a few uncomprehending looks by the mere hint that another role, largely non-existent, has every reason to be and is just as vital for a softdev org’s success as the one of a software architect. The role I’m talking about is this: a knowledge/info-sharing environment architect.
To alleviate the incomprehension, I suggest you check my previous article for some prerequisites to the argument which keeps unfolding here. Before proceeding with the ideas and principles for designing a functional and healthy info-sharing environment — tailored specifically to the needs of your organization — I thought I’d elaborate on the “whys”. Why would we need someone in charge at all, you might ask? Isn’t it enough that we’ve put together a stack of sync and async channels for knowledge/info-sharing at our organization, and… it’s just up to anyone to decide what is it that they want to follow? Unfortunately, no. Not in the late 2010’s. We are suffocating from the overload of information, and if we didn’t mind sifting through the extra chunk of the info channels in the late 2000’s — when everyone was oh so into Facebook, and Twitter, and staying connected in sync— we’ve now come to understand that this very staying connected real-time does not serve us right if we want to keep our sanity and health, and to perform well at work at the same time. Think of it this way: would the collective effort of checking & sorting the information — which includes boatloads of time spent onto switching, losing, and gaining back the focus — at your org be worth trading it for a one-time (or a recurring) focused effort of an individual (or a work group) who would analyze how the current info channels serve/do not serve their purpose, eventually coming up with the org’s info/knowledge sharing architecture/design that actually works? I’m not going to scribble the image of the scales with the stones here, but the visual to make my point would be exactly that. Imagine you’re weighing those two kinds of effort with the scales — so which one would outweigh, and for what reasons?
Speaking of weights.. and of human nature. The current cultural and organizational landscape in relation to consuming and processing information brings some parallels with food consumption to mind. There used to be times in the human history — not too long ago, actually, — when people were underfed. Even starving. In fact, quite some part of the global population is still underfed or starving, but that’s not the case anymore with the developed countries, largely. At one point, people were finally able to eat whatever they wanted and whenever they wanted, until… there was a realization that something had to be wrong with eating too much. But it was so tempting to eat more and more, despite the bad effects of overeating, especially with the genetic memories of the centuries-old malnourishment! It did take a while — it always does — but the human species responded to this problem by producing a new job role, which would be the one of.. a dietitian!
As it goes about information, it appears that humans haven’t yet arrived at a stage where everyone hires a personal info dietitian to provide personalized recommendations for consuming information safely. There are AI-algorithms, of course… but it would be an understatement to say that they are doing a very poor job as personalized info diet consultants.
The good news is that it is entirely in our powers — if we are ready for that— to take the lead and tackle the problem of not getting what we want despite processing too much information hands on, at our organizations. The cultural change takes time, and re-framing our minds from a certain bias takes time, too. The competitive edge stays with those who are the trailblazers. Quite some courage and grit are required to withstand those many pairs of incomprehensive eyes, or the ignoring audiences, but… it will all be worth it, once you realize that you were the first to discern a cultural pattern or a trend which the others have only started wrapping their mind around. Just for the record, I first saw that organizations might be in need of someone like info environment architects ~6 years back from now. My hope is I’ve helped some of you see that, too.
Stay tuned :)
