How did I evaluate my success as an architect?

How did I evaluate my success as an architect?
During an after-work with some dear colleagues, one asked: “How can we define our success?”. People started throwing answers like : by the customer’s happiness, by listing the greatest achievements, the metrics hit, by the completed tasks and goals, the career evolution or even by the gain accumulated. Unsurprisingly, I was unsatisfied. These answers looked more like a standard pitch to succeed in an interview rather than deep thoughts. In my opinion, one’s success can’t be measured only by corporate expectations; a career can’t be measured only by goals, achievements or accumulated wealth; a professional can’t be successful only by positive feedback or customer satisfaction. And what about Architects, as the disgraced-and-always-blamed people in an organization ? How can they measure their successes, especially since they only provide listening, more questions and rarely one option? ...
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Let’s talk about Complexity and Over-engineering in IT

Let's talk about Complexity and Over-engineering in IT
Charlie Chaplin in his 1936 ‘Modern Time’
Going back to old discussions with engineers, architects and CTOs, I noticed that practically all of them started their projects with passion and commitment but got trapped in the most crucial moments to be stuck with complexity, over-engineering and money-draining. ...
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