Practitioners

I was watching a recorded session by Dr. Devi Shetty the other day, where he spoke of a rare and intricate surgical procedure that less than 50 surgeons on this planet (including himself) can perform! Even a highly distinguished surgeon and entrepreneur like that regularly takes up specialized/complicated bits of surgeries, and complex cases into his own hands!

A practitioner is one who practices his/her craft - sharpening, maturing, and keeping his/her skills relevant over time. After all, there is no substitute to experiencing things for yourself. In the industry I am in, I can't stop wondering at how soon people want to stop being "hands-on", and move on to "bigger roles" - even before they have mastered a single bit or, aspect of their craft! Neal Ford talks about the "Ivory Tower" Architect who considers it beneath his/her dignity to get hands dirty; working exclusively at an abstract level - never touching anything real! Thankfully, he believes that times are changing now! It's an attitude and culture I have never understood myself. Can you imagine a specialized doctor who can talk a lot about diseases and cures; but refuses to touch, diagnose, and treat a real patient - ever! If you were running a hospital, would you hire such a doctor? Would you trust his judgement and calibre? How is our industry any different?

Signing off with some wonderful pieces of advice from real practitioners and experts on the field - from the compilation of essays "97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know" -

If you design it, you should be able to code it. Before anything, an architect is a developer.
    - Mike Brown

If you're also a developer on the project, value the time you spend writing code, and don't believe anyone who tells you it's a distraction from your work as architect. Your vision of both macro and micro levels will be greatly enhanced by the time you spend in the belly of the beast bringing it to life.
  - Allison Randal