Link: http://www.etc-architect.com/?p=255
From ETC-Architect
As architects we are usually prone not to work on similar problems all the time and we also often end up doing things outside of a close team structure. This makes us different to many people around us as most people in IT or in the business have a repetitive job or at least a repetitive element within their job. As such if we are successful we are also clearly attributing success to our own work. Handling that up and down of recognition and success with some periods where not much is happenings one of the basic skills of an architect and usually the reason that people prefer not to become an architect.
However there is another affliction that hits most architects without us ever being aware of it. We as architects often belief that we have found a winning strategy, beyond just being good at our job. You will often see this happening once you have worked as an architect for about 10 years. This pattern is actually the same as with serious gamblers who belief that their past successes increase the chance of future success. It is usually referred to as the “hot hand fallacy”. The person that is caught in this pattern can and will not accept that it applies to him or her, while at the same time know about so many other cases.
Since when we are hot handed we are often a liability to all all around and as we often outside of traditional teams where the success can not be clearly attributed we need to learn to spot this fallacy at ourself. The best way to this in my experience is to set yourself a period of a week or two to attack your views. This however only works if you willing to really succeed with the task in trying to find satisfaction in outsmarting yourself. If after you have proven yourself wrong you feel resentment it is likely that you have been hot handed and the you can then figure a way to overcome it it. If you however cannot prove ourself wrong then you are in a serious condition of being hot handed and require some professional help.
