Of all the dangers that befall those on the journey to data centrism, by far the greatest danger is Appliosclerosis. Appliosclerosis, or as lay people know it- hardening of the silos, can strike
any one at any time, but some are more prone to it than others. By the time Appliosclerosis has metastasized it may be too late, isolated and entrenched data models may already be firmly established in various vital departments, and extreme rationalization therapy may be the only option, perhaps followed by an intense taxo regimen.
In this brief piece we will lay out the symptoms that are most associated with the condition, and steps you can take to avoid early onset.
- Warning Sign 1: Fear of New Wheels – one of the most consistent early behavioral predictors of Appliosclerosis is Wheelophobia. This usually begins with executives making statements such as “Let’s not reinvent the wheel here.” This is an innocuous sounding bromide, after all, who wants yet another wheel? But this cliché is a Trojan Horse, and each of the Greek soldiers that come out of its belly carries the gift of yet another incompatible data model. Before you know it, the intention to avoid new wheels leaves the afflicted with a panoply of arbitrarily different and disconnected data models.
- Warning Sign 2: The Not (Not Invented Here Syndrome) – Curiously one of the most potent antibodies against Wheelophobia is the “Not Invented Here Syndrome (NIHS)” Those afflicted with NIHS (and it is generally believed to be hereditary) have a predisposition to custom build information systems whenever given a chance. While this does have many negative side effects, the positive side effect is that it curtails Appliosclerosis through two mechanisms. The first is by starving the nascent Applio tumors from developing by denying resources. The second is that NIHS is a very slow growing condition. Most organizations die with NIHS, not from it. The slow growth prompts some organizations to suppress the NIHS antibody with the bio-reactive NIHS complement (!NIHS).
