Enterprise Architecture: From Incite comes Insight...

Rahulh Tiwari posted the below comment that I will carefully dissect...

Hi James, Thanks for finding time to write on the subject. Your views are truly helpful though provocative. But I would like you to consider the following picture also: IT firms in India (at least mine) spend decent amount of money in providing books, magazines etc and have a library in most of the locations.

Rahul, thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read my blog and to encourage others within India to do the same. The issue isn't whether you have access to books but what books you personally own. Many of my books are well-worn with pages folded, paragraphs highlighted, etc. This allowed me to not just use a book as a reference but something more personal. Folks in India need to not just have access to libraries, but also need to own books themselves and their employers need to help them accomplish this goal.

But you see, most of the work outsourced to India is like that of dishwashing. If a person is doing the same dishwashing everyday, you cannot expect him/her to learn new recipes and procure reference material on the culinary literature. The competence of the person in such surroundings is judged more by the quantity of the work s/he does than the quality (which in case of dishwashing doesn't matter much) of work.

I have several thoughts on this topic. First, how much of my own job do you think is rote? Do you think us enterprise architects don't have the same conversations and give the same presentations multiple times? There are degrees of roteness. The second thought I had is there is an implied belief that learning occurs on the job when in reality, in my own career I can say this was true between the years of 1998 to 2001 where I learned more on the job than after hours. If you want to learn, then consider contributing to open source projects after work hours. Besides, you would have to admit that outsourcing your future to America is kinda dumb.

Also the educational system and social setting in which the IT professional in India grows up is very different compared to that of the Western countries. A child in USA grows up becoming more practical, open minded and independent whereas a child in India grows up to become more conservative and dependent. So, we are actually looking at not only reforms in IT, but also in social and educational system per se. I am not citing these as an excuse for the incompetency, but to put forth the idea that change is on the move, though it's taking its time. Meanwhile, the question remains that can an organization trust its dishwashers to prepare the dinner? Well it can, given dishwashers show conviction to be great chefs.

Every culture has handcuffs. It has been stated that it takes a nation of millions to hold people back. In India, Dalits are oppressed, in America it is natives. We can find oppression at every country, in every business that affects every religion and gender. The key isn't to let it be an impediment but something that you can leverage. If it handicaps others, but you figure out how to liberate yourself, then you will excel. Likewise, we all have a duty to improve the human condition and the first step is to start an open, honest dialog with others about it and you have taken the right step. The rest of the journey is up to you and I encourage you to pay it forward by encouraging others within your country to become equally open and savage in the pursuit of excellence...

Looking forward for more incites. Regards Rahul.

A VP and friend (Hi Prashanth) used to counsel me on how my blog is perceived and was a believer in the notion that from incite comes dialog and I think he has been proven correct...