We probably all feel a little battered by the levels of change we are experiencing. Technology, pandemic, business models, social mores, ethics, sustainability, legislation and more. It is hard to retain our sense of perspective and balance and self worth when everything seems to be shifting around us!

As architects we are often the agents of change for the organisation, processes, products, systems and technology. But that does not mean we ourselves are always that happy with change! The threat is that it brings risk: Are we focussing on the right things? Are there new factors we aren’t aware of? Is our “known good solution” still relevant?

I find comfort in Jeff Bezos approach which advocates:

“Find what is not going to change and optimise for that”

He recommended, in the case of Amazon, that the following factors were unlikely to change:

Customers want cheaper prices
Customers want fast delivery
Customers want increased selection

And in the case of Amazon Web Services:

Customers want reliability
Customers want low prices
Customers want rapid innovation in adding APIs (increasing utility of the platform)

Find the things in your business / industry that will not change and optimise for them.