Link: http://www.etc-architect.com/?p=359
From ETC-Architect
Architects are often masters of hiding the ugly details or intentions as despite of everything they like the design to look nice and presentable. However sometimes architects are also good in hiding their own deviances that are often sold to others as part of their technique. So far I have seen some patterns that I will discuss here.
The most common is the very active architects that constantly likes to improve templates, patterns, structures, frameworks, etc., but who is often not able to use his own template for more than a few times. Usually that architect also likes to see himself as the open or hidden rebel against most common rules. However since he is not so much rebelling against rules by others, but more against rules in common, he will get a harder and harder time as architecture matures. If the architect is also not open for change he can be very disruptive on existing teams, why it is possible best not to engage with such architects until they change. This pattern is also really bad on any open source project as it has destroyed a lot of really great projects.
The opposite but in the long time nearly as bad as the first pattern are the two passive deviant ways of architects. The first one is the guy that never asks anything and just assumes a lot. This is actually sometimes a common form of protest, but if it is lived for too long it gets dangerous until one day something erupts in violence. The other passive architect is the guy that sees architecture as an ritual. Often you will find this destructive pattern in governance styled architecture policing units.
A common pattern with older architects is that they start to ignore more and more rules and only see them important for the younger generation. Usually it is easy to combat this by asking the person if he wants to change or to retire. Also open rebellion is easy to deal with as the person in open hellion can often quickly be persuaded as long as the talk centres on genuine honesty and compromise on both sides.
So really it is best to look for the hidden deviance as that is much more dangerous.
