Are you an Architect? Have you ever wondered what is this big picture thinking people talk about? As a Developer, I used to wonder about it often. Then, I also remembered reading something that changed my perception.
I read it once. Read it once more. Kept reading for several times till I thought I have understood it.
A designer designs for things that happen when one user clicks on the button, an Architect thinks through what happen when thousands of users click on the button concurrently.
It was the difference between a Designer and an Architect. It was a book on Solution Design & Architecture. It was that line. And it was spot on.
I was younger and had energy, enthusiasm, curiosity to be an Architect. And that was the initiation to the thinking and acting like an Architect.
Years later, as I write this blog to reflect about those thousands of clicks, something clicks in my brain. Just like another of those 70,000 clicking thoughts in the daily routine. Just any other living person.
Scientists say that the big bang made the universe expanded from a million billion billion times smaller than an atom to several billion galaxies today.
Everything in this universe has a bigger perspective. A project, a solution, a product, a system – everything has a bigger something. As an Architect, I have always struggled to have a glimpse of the bigger picture so that everything else makes sense.
If I have designed a product, Product Manager had a bigger picture of market need. As I designed Digital Solutions, business leaders had better perspective of ecosystems. As I Architected enterprise solutions, someone else has a bigger and better contrarian perspective.
Over the years, I have realized that Architecture is more about outside-in perspectives rather than inside-out patterns. The best architects are the ones who are able to address the non-functional perspectives rather than functional requirements.
Being a good architect (and the one that creates impact) is about the exploration with people with smarter business orientation and knowing that there is always a bigger and better perspective. And it’s about the humility of “trying” to see the bigger picture because someone will always have a “Bigger” picture.
But how can you develop the ability of big picture views?
Here are some that work out for me:
Look at the industry of your customer as the Big Picture
The market, the history of the market, current players, emerging trends in the market – always bear a stamp of the big picture. Over time, marketplace brings in efficiency, survival of the fittest and encourages innovation. They give an outside-in view for the organization or for your thinking.
Industry view typically give you the current and potential future context of the domain where you are working – which is much bigger than where you originally started solving a problem (as an Architect or otherwise). Always remember, outside-in ideas come from “inside” somewhere in the Industry (also from outside the industry).
Look beyond for the Big Picture
Sometimes, we need to look beyond the domains of our work, beyond our industry and see how people solve their problems in those domain. Marketing, Sales, customer relationship, orders, supply chain, fulfillment, finance, customer service are universal functions and how organizations in other domain make them work will give you different perspective.
And sometimes, a different view of the problem or the opportunity. How can you apply the principles of Fintech in a low-tech – say tyre industry – and people have applied those principles. Even if we can’t apply them immediately, it expands our mind. Powerful organizations create cocktail of ideas – old and new and something unique and more potent is born.
With the boundaries of organizations becoming fluid in digital era, ‘low-tech’ is an ephemeral state. Technology is finding its way in every area possible. And ‘low-tech’ is fast becoming a competitive ground of high-tech entries. Is that not the definition of Disruption?
Talk to Influencers and people with knowledge to grasp the Big Picture
Our individual views are limited. To solve broader problems, we need proder perspectives.
Influencers are there for a reason. They have charted through territory before us and we can learn from them. Perspectives different than ours make our picture broader and bigger.
If you haven’t gone through those anonymous hackers hacking of your website, speak to someone who has been hacked. If you haven’t created a business architecture for a platform company, talk to some who has done.
There are no uncharted territories, always someone else would have been there earlier.
Analogies and metaphor
Analogies help us to look at something through the lens of something else.
- Can you look at you’re a day’s work like a one-day match?
- What if you spend the next 20 years in the company (assuming which you don’t like) like Nelson Mandel spent in Roben Island – how would you spend your days, weeks, years?
- What do you need to survive for 20 years in isolated corporate prison (pun unintended :))?
These are powerful questions framed by drawing analogies of one situation to another to generate ideas.
And in the process, our picture becomes bigger and deep.
Reflect and ask yourself
There is a saying that an unexamined life is not worth living. Because, when we examine & reflect our life, we discover insights that we have haven’t seen earlier.
Do you remember what you learnt from your very first project mate years ago? Why you learnt bicyle that fast? (you loved it J). Why you couldn’t swim? (Fear L). I am sure there are reasons and values that need your attention another time.
Can you apply that learning to your current situation? Or the work you are doing? Or the architecture you are creating.
I have realized the reflection of personal life can lead to powerful application in professional work.
Conclusion
Does any of these give you the assurance that all of us can have the bigger picture. In fact, all of us need to catch a glimpse of the big picture badly.
In the world of 21st century where instant gratification has permeated through our thoughts, wants and our life, big picture of life is the last thing that we need. But that’s our only bet to make something significant.
To be a champion, I think you have to see the big picture. It’s not about winning and losing; it’s about every day hard work and about thriving on a challenge. It’s about embracing the pain that you’ll experience at the end of a race and not being afraid. I think people think too hard and get afraid of a certain challenge.
–Summer Sanders
And for an Architect and for a thought leader, that is the only means to rise above the level of the problem for a solution. Behind the button for those thousands of clicks.
Thank you Samit for your perspective on big picture. Very well articulated. Good read and lots of take away.
Thank you Manmohan! Appreciate you spending time to read it!
Awesome article
Thank you Pritesh!