You know the saying “That guy can’t see the forest for the trees…”?
Well, I’ve got a related one that says “There’s too many trees in the
way for me to plant the forest!”
Okay, now that I’m done with that little outburst, I’ll go on to
explain. Sometimes, at least in technology positions, but I’m sure it
applies elsewhere, you get so busy fixing today’s problems that, even
if you’ve planned for tomorrow’s, you never quite got around to
avoiding them in the first place. Technology-wise, I can see this
applying in many small businesses that just don’t have the manpower in
many cases to implement the larger, more organized projects that will
keep the small, but pestering problems under control.
So how do you design for tomorrow whilst repairing today? It’s a
careful balancing act of putting up with smaller problems until you can
solve them with your longer-term project. However, you need to be
careful not to “put up” with too many of the smaller ones and have your
current architecture become neglected. Artful design combined with
careful project management and constructive “load sharing” can, in many
cases, keep this delicate balancing act in place and allow you to
achieve success.
Well, back to walking the tight rope while balancing multiple spinning
plates above my head… At least, I think they’re still spinning…