Building the Taj Mahal, in systems

13.02.2006
As I work through what it means to reinvent myself and be agile, I'm coming to some insights.

Let me start with a definition. Agility in IT means being skilled in the use of a set of techniques that enable you to size up situations and develop effective solutions faster and cheaper than others thought possible. I call these the core techniques, and I've talked about them in earlier columns, including "Just a Handful of Techniques" [May 2, 2005].

I've practiced and applied them for years. My value in the job market is to a large extent determined by how skillfully I use them to get things done for people who hire me. Basically, I'm paid to be agile. My opportunity is to use agility to get things done for a lot of people. By practicing IT agility, I'll be in constant demand. Everywhere I look, companies need systems to help them get things done.

My ability to take what I've done before and apply it in a new setting raises a question. "Well," people ask, "if you build a system for Company X, how can you build a system like it for another company without divulging proprietary information?" I'll illustrate the answer with a story.

In college, I studied architecture. One day in design studio, our professor told us about the architect who built the Taj Mahal. To honor his late wife, the emperor Shah Jahan wanted a monumental mausoleum of incomparable beauty and grandeur. He hired a great architect, who applied his skills to the situation. We all know the architect succeeded brilliantly. The emperor was very pleased but was determined that no one else would have a building like the Taj Mahal. According to legend, he had the architect blinded.

Our professor then asked us what the emperor had done wrong, bearing in mind that it was entirely within his rights to exercise that kind of control over his subjects. The answer is that the emperor confused the skill of the architect with the building those skills produced. The emperor need not have worried. A good architect wouldn't build another Taj Mahal.