Three important lessons I have learned on my journey as data engineer and architect
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It’s only been a few months since I once again had to experience what I sometimes refer to as the “self-satisfaction of IT.”
That may sound a bit harsh, but unfortunately I experience this time and again. It can be frustrating to see IT departments actually working against their business.
I remember one specific case where a running business solution had to be migrated to another execution platform solely because of ‘technical’ reasons. Sure, business was told that this target platform would be much cheaper in maintenance, but IT didn’t offer tangible evidence on that assertion. Ultimately, the decision to migrate was driven by ‘expert knowledge’ and so-called ‘best practices’, but solely from an IT-centric perspective. It cost a fortune to migrate what worked, only to find out that the promised cost reductions didn’t materialize and even worse, business functionality deteriorated in some cases.
IT professionals, not only in specific technology-oriented companies, tend to believe that technology, IT tools, and nowadays also data have an end in themselves.
Nothing could be further from the truth.