http://www.codingthearchitecture.com/tags/emptysuit/ Software architecture for developers en Coding the Architecture Wed, 16 May 2012 08:01:04 GMT Pebble (http://pebble.sourceforge.net) http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.codingthearchitecture.com/2007/06/19/beware_the_empty_suit.html <p> I've recently read a couple of books by the author Nassim Nicholas Taleb - "Fooled by Randomness" and "The Black Swan". He mainly writes about unexpected events (different from risk) in financial markets and reactions to them. These unexpected and unpredictable events can be either positive or negative for those affected. He also introduces the concept of "The Empty Suit". <p> The Empty Suit is a person who wears, and looks good, in a suit. They have no real skills and produce nothing except for PowerPoint presentations. They are, however, very successful. The secret to their success is to become visibly involved in many projects at the stage where they look like they can succeed and a lot of the leg work has been done. They give a couple of PowerPoint presentations (often off their own back without talking to the project team) to Senior Management on the project. If the project fails (and 75% of the time they do) they just stop mentioning it and talk about another. If the project succeeds then they trumpet their own involvement and take credit, making sure they attend the launch drinks and 'press the flesh'. <p> I read this and almost dropped the book to shout "Yes! Yes! I see that all the time!" but I was on a packed tube train. <p> I've seen a few people who obviously fit this description. Amongst them are Enterprise Architects and floating Technical Architects (and don't get me started on programme managers). This isn't to say that anyone with those titles is an Empty Suit but they do allow someone with those attributes to flourish. In particular, anyone who doesn't stay around or take part in any of the implementation is likely to be an Empty Suit. <p> How often have you broken your back to deliver a difficult project to impossible timescales but you're not the one to gain the benefits? So they have all the perks of success but none of the downside... Perhaps I shouldn't beware the Empty Suit; maybe I should learn and copy! What is the the role of a software architect? http://www.codingthearchitecture.com/2007/06/19/beware_the_empty_suit.html#comments http://www.codingthearchitecture.com/2007/06/19/beware_the_empty_suit.html Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:48:35 GMT