I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was working on a moderate-size proposal for a large customer. The submission was due in a couple of weeks.
The proposal
I have noticed that I have been able to complete few sections of the proposal for the last couple of weeks. My manager has noticed it as well.
The proposal was to be submitted in another seven days. Commercials were yet to be calculated because the solution was not over yet.
I was wondering when really I would get some time and be able to complete it.
I always used to be behind schedule. Homework, being ready for exams, getting started with ANYTHING. I didn’t figure out why…
Was it a prioritization problem? Whatever was the case, either that problem was to be resolved or people would avoid assigning me work that had a serious deadline.
Serious work always has a serious deadline. Hence, something was to be done.
My Manager
And it was done by the manager. Having seen me for weeks and hearing my status update, he figured it out.
He told me, “Samit, you have two problems, not just one!”
I was dumbfounded, “two problems? About the same proposal?”
He smiled mischievously and said, “it’s not about time. It’s about your priority. What you want to finish, gets prioritized. You are procrastinating the response to those 3 questions because you don’t like answering them.”
“That’s the first problem!” he said.
I asked, “And the second problem?”
He said, “the second problem is not reaching out for help, for something that you don’t want to do yourself. And that’s a serious problem!”
He was spot on. Over the years, I have been trying to solve both problems.
You and me
As Digital has added speed to everything we do, smaller problems like this can cripple our work, our careers.
Dhoni has been the best finisher of the game because he never shies away from what is needed. He happens to “like” things he doesn’t like. Just like a champion gets up when he can’t.
The best way to master your craft (and to do things that we ‘generally’ avoid) is to stretch and do what you wouldn’t do otherwise.
A 10-week Hackathon
I have set up a hackathon so that in 10 weeks, you engage in solving problems and incrementally build up a full-blown architecture for the modern digital ecosystem.
In the process, you build a complex Digital Solution Architecture from scratch – step by step and you start “liking” the architecture as much as the process of building an architecture.
I want this hackathon to follow these guidelines:
- It will be spread over 10 weeks.
- There will be 7 missions – from the logical architecture of the digital enterprise to the architecture of the data/analytics ecosystem, integration design for transformation, etc…
- There will be an accountability partner of each participant, two partners would form a Team
- Each mission will be reviewed in the following week
- There will be 3 winners after 7 missions, each winner will get an award, certificate
Bruce Lee has said, “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times!”
And that’s the secret of raising your game. Becoming a champion!!
If you would like to see yourself as a Champion Architect in 10 weeks, drop me an email.