Welcome to Human Architecture

By Nynke Fokma and Becky Winant

January 2, 2003 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld -


	(Becky Winant works with people seeking effective change and progress. Connect with her at becky@beckywinant.com. Nynke Fokma enjoys exchanges with people wishing to be more effective at "getting somewhere" or "taking effective aim." Feed her at nynke@moebius.nl.)

A story: A systems analyst had to develop a new daily transaction processing system for bank tellers. The analyst was not allowed to talk to the tellers for fear of bothering them, but was assured by the bank manager that the Office Operations manager at headquarters would provide all necessary information. The story ended with many perplexed bank tellers who had no idea how to use the newly implemented system, and frustrated customers because it was taking a l-o-o-ong time for each transaction.

In a city half way around the globe: Some developers in a large telecom organization were assigned to work on process improvements in 10% of their time. Executive management gave verbal and written messages that improvements had a high priority, but the reward system was geared for one-size-fits-all and did not reward process improvements. Project and team managers urged their people to drop any process improvements when the schedule might be in danger, which was always. All involved continued using their unimproved and crippling process.

Introducing change: Embarking on an adventure with new technology to make everybody's life easier, the company sent every employee involved through training. Checking up after six months, executive management was very surprised to only find 20% of its employees using the new technology and 50% of those not being overly happy with it.

Have you ever been surprised like this? If your answer was "yes," then you've experienced the absence of "human architecting." All these real-life events ignore the people in the systems and expose the limited thinking on the part of their creators. The goal of human architecture is to identify and avoid the costly and painful failures of people being lost or confused by the system.

Human architecture acknowledges that all systems we devise are for people -- software, products and organizational structure and operation. So, the creation process by necessity must involve all who care about the ultimate effectiveness of the system whether they order it, use it, design it, build it or pay for it. People constitute the audience and the resource. Any success depends on learning more about the people involved.

The subject of human architecture for systems delves into the complex aspects of individual and collective interactions and decisions. How people perceive their situation and choices is based on:

Culture (The collective's history, values and characteristics)

Communication (The relationship of people - inside, outside and between)

Challenges (The problems, both seen and unseen, that the collective faces)

Vision (The yearnings of the collective)

Environment (Where people find themselves in the collective and the outer world)

While much has been written about software and organizational culture, Jerry Weinberg's terminology for cultural patterns [1] will be used. We find this particular categorization extremely helpful for analyzing situations, as well as making change happen. Weinberg's patterns with descriptive metaphors are:
0. Oblivious - "Walking: When we want to go somewhere we just stand up and go."
1. Variable - "Riding a horse: When we want to go somewhere, we saddle up and ride ... if the horse cooperates."
2. Routine - "A train: When we want to go somewhere, we find a train, which has large capacity and is very efficient ... if we go where the tracks are. We're helpless when off the tracks."
3. Steering - "A van: We have a large choice of destinations, but we must generally stay on mapped roads, and must be steered to stay on the road."
4. Anticipating - "An airplane: When going somewhere, we can travel fast, reliably and anywhere there's a field, but going this way requires a large initial investment."
5. Congruent - "The Starship Enterprise: When going somewhere, we can go where no one has gone before, we can carry anything, and we can beam ourselves anywhere, but this is all science fiction."

Each pattern may be appropriate for a company. It depends on the products. Let's picture each pattern shooting arrows:

In an oblivious culture we do not take aim because we do not need a target to aim at. Product: We do not think of our systems as products.

In a variable culture we take aim, we may miss or hit our target, and we take aim again. Product: We build revolutionary innovative systems.

In a routine culture we take aim, we may miss or hit our target, and investigate why we missed our target. Product: We believe that formal procedures shape our products.

In a steering culture we take aim, and if we miss, we investigate why we aimed at something else. Product: We build systems on demand.

In an anticipating culture we predict likely effects by taking aim. We do not have to shoot the actual arrow each time. Product: We build complex systems that need to be effective, reliable and secure.

In a congruent culture we only have to imagine our aim. Product: We create solutions to avoid (un)foreseen problems.

While ignoring people can be acceptable for Oblivious, Variable and Routine cultures, it won't work for the more progressive system cultures. If you, like us, need to be effective on the Steering or Anticipating level, you need to develop a broader view. Each system problem is a network of problems interrelating with one another in a dynamic field of collective and individual desires, yearnings, imagery, articulations and activities. You can become aware of these factors and learn how their affect might apply to your situation. Our goal is to help you develop your awareness and analysis skills.

As we study human architecture issues, we will discuss practice and present predicaments to you to generate problem-solving ideas. You will hear our observations, experiences and theories, and we welcome you to share your views with us. In fact, the "human architecting" of this column will respond to your participation and feedback to us.

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