Read: Surviving Strategy & Architecture, by Michael D. Stark

calendar 2025-11-26 · 4 min read  ·
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I am an IT Architect on the enterprise level, and yes, the job has its demands. The work is utmost eclectic — dealing not only with technology issues, but with organisation, company politics, business administration, group dynamics, psychology. It does never get boring. On the other hand it is exhausting, not being able to build up deep expertise in the fields one is involved, dealing with different people and different topics on a daily basis. Leading without the authority of the line mangement.

Keeping mentally balanced is required. What could be better suited for this goal than old Asian philosophy?
This book gives an overview about many aspects of Asian philosphy, about half of it describe some basics. So if anyone is very familiar with that, it might be somewhat boring.
For me, only knowing some widely known things, it's very interesting, and the whole topic is very rich — so still much to learn.

Or more profane, the psychology of an enterprise architect and strategic internal consultant has to deal with, mostly.
There are lots of paragraphs that resonate:

Noisy when it matters: A superpower that surprises many is that introverts are very noisy and energetic about topics they know well and are passionate about. Their intensity at such times is hard for extroverts to match, particularly as it tends to be a surprise to extroverts.
(p. 175)

Too true. And one has not even to know something well to be passionate about a topic …
This kind of unexpected behaviour makes people often uneasy. People want other people predictable, like IT Systems as well.

If you do want to stay in one place and let things evolve around you, it is safer if you don't get too high in the management hierarchy. (p. 207)

This is hilarious. Really — who does not fight the lingering promotions our company imposes to us? But it is true, if have seen people who seem to be natural picks of promotions. And it might be the case that Michael D. Stark is such a type, and therefore cannot see the bulk of employees struggling to get at least one significant promotion in their work life time. Stark let a glimpse of his general knowledge show up, about NFL management, Rugby tactics and aviation.

One of the core items in the book is how deal with the attraction of goals. Aim at them, but do not enforce them. A real Zen-Thing I'd say.

And this is peak Zen:

Perhaps we connect business people to stories that resonate with them and naturally lead to the desired path. […] The feeling when you hear your narratives coming back to you from leadership is very special.
You need to resist any claim of ownership of the narrative; it is not about your ego; it is about being effective and doing the right thing for your company.
(page 228)

This is tough stuff. I am currently in a similar postion, after having been annoying for years, my favourite narrative might have rooted in management.
Indeed, I will not be able to claim ownership, or at least partly ownership, but to demand to neglect it totally is hard.
It is a special stance of the author, conceding bare egoism to „business managers“, while demanding humbleness from the IT staff. I would not prefer either, but on the other hand I tend to see „IT“ as a business support capability like accounting or fleet management. Anyway, Stark's career, who claims to be a humble introvert is more than remarkable. But there are such types, surely, he might still have a strong personal presence, while still talking silently.

This all fits well with Asian Philosophy. But also related Western themes come into the play, like “Lean.” As a Peter&ndquo;Drucker&ndquo;Fanboy I am delighted to see this quote:

“There is nothing so useless as doing eddiciently that
which should not be done at all.”
Peter F. Drucker

This could originate from Sun Tsu as well, right?