Richard MacManus points to a ComputerWorld article by Michael Hugos who writes:
got into the IT business because I love to design and build systems. After doing a lot of designing and building and watching others do a lot of designing and building, one of the most important things I’ve learned is that successful projects are always run by a certain kind of person. This person can speak both the language of technology and the language of business. This person understands the specific business issues that a new system is supposed to address and is always looking for simple and effective ways to use technology to get things done. I call this person the systems builder.
The competence of the systems builder goes a long way toward determining the success or failure of any development project.
Often, the systems builder comes up through the technical ranks and learns about business along the way. Sometimes the systems builder comes up through the business side and manages to learn about technology. Either way, this is someone who can clearly demonstrate skills in two main areas: designing systems and leading projects to build systems.
Michael discusses five skills that the systems builders needs:
– Understand the business operation.
– Create an inclusive process.
– Tolerate not knowing.
– Look for the simple underlying patterns.
– Use simple combinations of technology and process.
