Have we ever thought deeply on why we have failed, why our products and solutions are not exciting the market and why even the mainframe offload is dragging for last 10+ years. The answer can be found in the old timers, the architects, who have hung on to their positions even when the organization had lay offs every 6 months. How did they manage that - simple - do not document what you know, do not share what you know and object any changes or fresh ideas that is brought to the table under the guise that we know better than any one. The culture of obsession with self, lack of patience to listen, intolerance towards others and ideas, antipathy to people suggesting innovation, going on in circles in every meeting on why some thing would not work, than how can it be made to work, starts with the head of Architects, who is also head of labs. Knowledge of what you did is good, but if it cannot be used to save an organization, which is going down quarter by quarter, what is the worth of that knowledge. But are they worried - no - as most are close to retirement and will retire nicely with a package , even if the company files bankruptcy. So change the layer that is slowing every thing down and put some fresh, energetic, risk taking, innovative, ready to work hard and have a mission to save the company.
12 replies (most recent on top)
@12h Don’t blame others for your lack of skill and knowledge. Try and catch up, instead. Or , better still, look for a job. You will need one soon.
Arrogant sub-continent d-wads always ruin beautiful creations...
@p6 Mummy with Bandaids.....
The original stuff works. In all the quirky ways airlines have paid us to tweak it for 60+ years. New re-writes offload pieces but always fall short. So nothing is ever sunset.
@cz The syndicate by SVP SN and his architects(though none of them seem to like SN), appears to be keeping KE at bay as well. KE is relatively new to the industry and may not have the technical depth to understand the products or solutions or identify what is failing, and is therefore at the mercy of the architects. This insecurity seems to prevent KE from demanding strong accountability from SN and his team. Plus, the culture the architects have created is one of unquestionability regarding their actions(as evident from their lack of patience and intolerance towards other ideas). We cannot survive if we rely on the old timers to hold up the system daily. This impression that they are absolutely essential must be addressed. Every company engages in succession planning. What about the old timers?. Have they ever planned for succession or mentored any one?. Do not be at the mercy of this arrogant class of people, who have nothing to loose as they know their positions are safe. They boast about how complex they have built the next-generation platform, the intricate CI/CD pipelines, the containers and patterns, the multitude of the SRE parameters and so on. However, if none of this is helping the business and is only increasing the time to deliver changes to production, they must critically reflect on their ways of working. Observe SN and the architects, consider how many genuinely beneficial contributions that team makes in a month or quarter to accelerate product development or mainframe offload. If the impact is minimal, ask the leadership about why this dead weight is allowed to sink the ship.
@cz Because he is an ignorant clown who got to his role undeservingly. The fact that he rants like a p*g in reply to employee questions but blindly accepts whatever cr-p he is fed tells me all there is to it about him.
@d0 Why the long face ? :D Seek help.
The real issue is that you have turned the company into a sub-continent cr-p hole.
@cy Why doesn't KE demand the Architects be more open in Sabre to make a difference for the better with the now dying products??
@cj Good Points, the Architects have to be involved with every Customer interface session because they always know how the system works and if what the customer is asking for will work or not. However, as you point out, they never go back to 1S and communicate better ways of doing anything or what should be reworked to make the product better; they want to maintain the status quo so they can remain needed and always be the all-knowing expert in 1S.
KE, ultimately is responsible for the course of this ship. But if he is not told the truth or being misguided by key resources like senior architects or SVP of labs???. Have we ever seen the architects speaking in terms of how much revenue the products they are associated with makes in an year, or what is the cost of running them?. They do not know either, but they pontificate in every matter. I would not be surprised, if the information fed to KE is not right, given how strong the SVP and his syndicate is . They are only making sure they can remain to "advise", even if the organization goes bankrupt. What a cozy position to be in: provide advice with no strings attached or accountability. For many years in this forum, the blame is always on the C-suite, but wake up, think who are the real show stoppers. Ask them what impact they have made to make situation better. Change them and you will see the impact. We do not need heady, arrogant, intolerant, self obsessed leaders.
The captain of the ship has to take ownership. What are his KPI’s? Stock at $20 - fail, Increased revenue - fail, Growth strategies - fail, reduce debt - ok, but sold growing businesses, no layoffs - fail.