If we’re trying to make sense of systems, our greatest enemy is fragmentation. Or, to be more precise, the type of fragmentation that arises from misuse of analysis. Specialise, says analysis. Specialise again! And specialise the specialisms! Hyperspecialise! Cut it …

Against fragmentation Read more »

What’s the point of specialism? Or, perhaps more to the point, why do we so much argue about ‘the point’? – is it a side-effect of specialism itself? After the farrago around the last couple of posts here, this is perhaps best described …

The point of specialism Read more »

In the old Norse children’s tale, there’s a troll that lives under a bridge, that eats the life-force of anyone who tries to pass. It’s a useful bridge, sure, and it’s easiest to pass that way, if the troll wasn’t …

More on trolls, specialism and context Read more »

As cross-domain generalists, how can we best cope with narrow-focus specialists who insist that their own domain is the only one that matters? This is a constant problem in enterprise-architectures and the like, not least because we somehow have to …

The dangers of specialism-trolls in enterprise-architecture Read more »

My mother is a retired general-practitioner (family doctor), and still has the BMJ (British Medical Journal) delivered here each week. It’s always a useful contrast to my ‘day-job’ in enterprise-architecture, and every-now-and-then there’s a real jewel of an article there …

Enterprise-architecture and organisational health Read more »

Why is it so hard for enterprise-architects and other generalists to get employment as generalists – despite the evident very real need for such skills in the workplace? And what part do current business-paradigms play in this problem? At first glance …

‘No jobs for generalists’ – a summary Read more »

Why is it so hard for enterprise-architects and other generalists to get employment as generalists – despite the evident very real need for such skills in the workplace? And what part do current business-paradigms play in this problem? [[This post has been …

Yet more on ‘No jobs for generalists’ [3e] Read more »

Why is it so hard for enterprise-architects and other generalists to get employment as generalists – despite the evident very real need for such skills in the workplace? And what part do current business-paradigms play in this problem? [[This post has been …

Yet more on ‘No jobs for generalists’ [3d] Read more »

Why is it so hard for enterprise-architects and other generalists to get employment as generalists – despite the evident very real need for such skills in the workplace? And what part do current business-paradigms play in this problem? [[This post has been …

Yet more on ‘No jobs for generalists’ [3c] Read more »

Why is it so hard for enterprise-architects and other generalists to get employment as generalists – despite the evident very real need for such skills in the workplace? And what part do current business-paradigms play in this problem? [[This post has been …

Yet more on ‘No jobs for generalists’ [3b] Read more »