Humans, by nature, are impatient. And by nurture over the last several years with everything from drive-through liquor stores making a comeback in my hometown to anticipatory search results from Google to Amazon Prime’s same-day delivery…
…we now live in a society where all of life’s virtues and vices can be summoned on demand with merely the virtual click of your fingers.
Sure, I love the 7-minute personal pizzas I get my kids at the regular markets around Cape Town on the weekends, and I’d be hard-pressed to do the work I do every day without the millisecond-delayed access to anywhere in the world by voice, video and remote logins.
But what we tend to forget is that in the “real world” – especially in the realms of human interactions and the development of our personal and professional capabilities…
…there just ain’t no “same-day delivery” relating to the transformation of anything with one lick of living tissue involved.
“Not so,” you may say. You may remember back about 8-9 years ago the talk of electric brain stimulation techniques that were show to deliver 33% improvements in the development of new skills.
Hardly Neo-like, “I know Kung-fu” knowledge and skill application, but still…better than droning through 76 videos and a couple of multiple-choice quizzes in order to get a certificate of completion that just basically lets you say:
“Yeah, I’ve seen it…but don’t ask me to actually try and do it.”
Even to the point of a conversation I was having recently with someone about adopting a formalized approach to security architecture. After spending weeks talking about how it was best to start on small, focused projects to demonstrate value quickly…
…over the holidays, the scope ballooned into a wholesale, global transformation effort—
Which, to paraphrase a BAH VP working on many, big-bang style projects for the US Government over the years is a lot like flying too close to the sun with wings made of wax…
…meaning that expecting a big-bang style of change – of any kind – to be successful is setting yourself up for failure and disappointment.
But we’re hooked.
We’re instant-gratification-adrenalin-junkies – even in our professional lives – when it comes to wanting things done.
We (think) we know what we want, and we want it done yesterday.
And this is also how many people approach security skill development. Oh, I can learn SABSA…or security architecture…or DevSecOps in just a few hours for under $50. See…that’s what the course description said.
But can you?
Can you really do more than get a level of exposure to information and perhaps a few haphazardly-designed validations without putting in a commitment to doing real work…
…personal, hard and mind-stretching work…
…to develop the PRACTICE of whatever knowledge you may be able to absorb?
Maybe.
But, from personal experience with a lot of in-person and online learning over the last several years – from both sides of the podium/screen – I doubt it.
That’s why the Building Effective Security Architectures cohort that kicks off in about 6 weeks includes such in-depth exercises that help you develop the most essential skills that a successful security architect needs in order to keep their organization safe—especially a SABSA security architect, since that’s the foundation on which The Agile Security System™ – the approach I’ve developed based on my own practical experience in the field around the world – comes from.
And you can really learn how to apply those skills, practically and quickly…
…if that’s something you’d like to do.
Because, let’s face it, there’s an awful lot of smoke blown up peoples backsides about “instant and grand” digital transformation efforts these days. And while we can’t stop people from trying for their fix of instant gratification and Herculean organizational transformation success…
…at least we can do the best we can to swim with the current, work as quickly and effectively as possible, and be able to prove to them that…
…whatever the outcome…
…we’ve done everything we could to try and help them succeed.
After all, it’s our job, isn’t it?
To learn – and I mean *really* learn – some of the core skills you need as a security architect to make this possible, go here:
Read the sales page carefully. Scroll all the way to the bottom with your credit card in hand (sorry, no POs this time around), and sign up.
It’d be a pleasure to have you as part of our February cohort.
But even though the investment is far less than the total cost of your average conference, the marinations of approval within your organization may take some time. It’d be too bad if this was something you really wanted to do…
…and you missed it.
Stay safe,
ast
—
Andrew S. Townley
Archistry Chief Executive
