You Do Not Get A Painter to Fix Another's Art

The Value of Vindication

Vindication comes in different ways, not to gloat or to point fingers, even if, after all is said, the concern you raised has been proven true. Good communication, alongside the ability to articulate one's thoughts even in the heat of the moment, remains the most critical skill every time.

In a long-running saga of urgency and wits, from which workplace stress can be the damaging consequence for motivation and wellbeing, withstanding authority and office in the quest to improve a proposed solution, so that it works as intended and engenders confidence, is not a battle for the fainthearted.

There are so many ways to express oneself, and the power of persuasion comes in the form of words that walk people down a reasonable lane of acknowledgement, misgiving, challenge, and requirement, before acquiescing to the notion of a willingness to engage and always help.

A Question of Ownership

In this instance, after a solution did not work as intended, a project manager had the bright idea that it was now the job of the implementor to fix the problem with a complex set of orchestration scripts; scripts that the implementor had long before determined would not deploy cleanly, for various reasons previously given but seemingly ignored.

The truth was that collaboration had never quite been on offer. What passed for it at the outset was minimal, closer to an imposition than an invitation, and it was only our steady, well-argued pushbacks that drew out any real interaction. Even then, we were working with architects whose confidence outpaced their familiarity with the environment in which their solution was meant to run.

The first line of my response was that his reading of the situation was wrong, and I then went on to make the case for why, starting with a simple analogy. Because scripts and programming are an individual's way of thinking and a style of expression for what they want to achieve, and without the full immersion of others in the coding process, "You do not get a painter to fix another artist's work of art."

An AI-generated infographic on the blog content. (Click to enlarge.)

I appreciate that there was something I could do, but what was requested was input; it could not be interpreted as taking ownership of the solution. The fundamentals of the intended solution were sound, but its enterprise deployment, so that it consistently works once rolled out, requires the inside knowledge of the implementor to point out why certain constructs will fail, so that the developer takes those ideas seriously when modifying elements of the proposed solution.

Back to the Canvas

The response of the project manager was at first patronising and then emotional, but the artist, the developer, understood the import of my message and got back to work fixing their solution, which is now in its fourth iteration and possibly still a work in progress nine days on.

As far as I was concerned, what I intended was achieved: to draw out the work of the implementor, before the solution was complete, and to inform of the essential changes and improvements needed to make it deployable.

Invariably, I believe the result would not only be fit for purpose; once fully done, all sides of development, through implementation, to the end-users would see the intended benefits the solution would offer.

The whole trajectory now sits in the slipstream of practical engagement with the implementation process, rather than in acquiring accolades from promising the client outcomes that, from the onset, would never have worked, back when the first ideas were put to us over two months ago.

Authority and Consent

One higher management person did interject in the email chain, suggesting we were involved in verbose communication; the same person who used the lexicon of grief to explain the effects of change some months ago. None of these replies required a response once the artist was back to fixing their work of art, rather than hoping another might attempt a dash of graffiti to improve it.

The authority to propose still requires the consent to implement. Badly designed systems tend to be a symptom of the same thing: responsibility placed in the wrong hands, and too little respectful engagement with those who must carry a complex solution through deployment.

Had the environment been understood from the start, much of this could have been avoided. In the workplace, this is the challenge faced by many who need the kind of articulation that ensures a solution has the best set of inputs to work.

We are not seeking perfection, just something good enough to understand, implement, manage, and hand over cleanly, when the time comes.

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Authority Without Consent

The Weight of Fallibility

Hubris is one of those traits anyone should do well to avoid. Regardless of one's expertise, ability, and confidence, we are prone to error, mistakes, failings, or just the slightest miscomprehension of a situation.

This is not to second-guess the premise; rather, it is simply that an awareness that we may not be entirely correct, and hence fallible, can be a humbling realisation. It shows us the extent of what we intend in our self-belief, and how reality challenges it.

A Rollout Not Ready

Recently, I met the weight of imposition from on high: a process I was neither confident in nor happy to deploy. Developments within the last week have now brought into stark relief that what appeared to work on a single device, with a different kind of user profile, was neither ripe nor ready for a global rollout.

One could snidely suggest that this was a fact posited many times before but ignored because the proposer's office implied an all-knowing mien that would brook no questioning.

Well, it all returned to the drawing board as we identified the kinks in the solution. A new solution has since been proposed that is radically different from the original and contains elements that give one the jitters.

Consequently, we are back to the original arguments of fanciful ideas that appear to work in isolation but require a different mindset when set for a global deployment.

Authority Without Consent

What this episode really lays bare is a simple truth: technical authority without social consent produces brittle solutions. A design may be elegant on paper and hold together in isolation, yet the moment it meets the messy reality of many hands and many machines, it fractures, not for want of cleverness, but for want of ownership.

There is, of course, a counter-argument that imposition is sometimes necessary, and that endless consensus can stall a decision indefinitely. I would not dismiss it. But there is a world of difference between the people who run the environment, who understand its issues and problems intimately, and an architect parachuted into a situation who consults no one, believing they already know everything necessary to fix things.

We appreciate that things need to improve, and we would welcome ideas, insight, inspiration, and implementations to put matters right. The question is whether there is a better way for this to go forward without proper engagement. I would suggest there is not.

What an Architect Should Be

An architect should not be like a bull let loose in a china shop, nor should they be a cowboy riding a three-legged horse. My view of an architect is someone who listens and observes intently, appreciates and understands, then suggests rather than imposes, carrying people along rather than rubbing them up the wrong way.

When you break the social element of engagement that helps take ideas to implementation, whatever concept is in the plan is likely to fail. This is not because people have refused to do it, but because the prospect is not owned by the people who would eventually manage it.

If you are an architect, ensure that this is not one of your flaws. Get the builders onside before you take your grand scheme to town, selling castles in the air that no one can reach, even if they could fly.

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To The Runaways, The Misfits & The Radicals

What I negotiated for me

When my father first learnt that I had travelled out of Nigeria to the UK, he was not in jubilant mood at all even though that first trip was to acquire equipment for a company in which I had 30% equity. I returned and, in the meanwhile, the relationship between my business partner and I deteriorated because I was neither obsequious enough nor too enamoured by the opportunity I had, I had many professional responsibilities of which NextStep Limited was just one.

After my return, I visited the British Consulate to fix my status, both to be able to travel to the UK and if I needed to, emigrate. The need to leave Nigeria was not pressing, though one of the contractual engagements I had from a year before included the full payment for my flight ticket to the UK.

When I seized control

I was not mindful of that prospect, even as Deji Sasegbon engaged me as a desktop publishing consultant at his legal publications outfit. My father thought I had abandoned academic pursuits to the whim of activities he never really understood. He took it upon himself to attempt to secure my admission to an HND programme at the Federal Polytechnic, Bida and despite his engagement with the Rector, my name appeared to be switched with another in the rector’s files.

None of this bothered me, as after my visit to the UK, I found that there was a market for my Nigerian-acquired skill because I was more knowledgeable about the things I wanted doing compared to the technical staff who were there to demonstrate the kit I was acquiring.

Then I cared less

In the background, in communications between my father and guardians who had direct influence over me and access to me, he had suggested I was running away from responsibility. Responsibility is a nebulous concept, but it is never 'responsibility' in its distilled form, rather it is one of whether you can control, decide, instruct, and require without question, someone to do your bidding.

It is one where your independent view must seek the permission of another deemed superior, where your initiative must encompass the pleasure of another who has set the expectations, where your individuality and uniqueness is a function of conformity to some generally accepted norms and values or you are a misfit, you cannot chart a course of difference else you would be excoriated, called to order and commanded to obey or risk ostracism and be condemned as a radical.

Yes, I could run away

We were the runaways, though I do wonder what kind of a runaway I am. My father is essentially Nigerian, a proud one at that. I doubt if was ever Nigerian even if I spent some of my formative years there. Daily, I was reminded that I was born abroad, certain quirky mannerisms and my accent modified by influences from England and in Nigeria put me in a limbo of identity.

I probably found ways to navigate the system, but I really do not think I belonged. After having moved to the UK, my father was a resident of the 60s, I became a resident of the 90s. His experience of society then was radically different from my experience. He was treated like a second-class citizen and hardly appreciated, yet, in Nigeria, you could be a first-class citizen and it counted for nothing.

My storied identity

The greatest benefit of our returning to Nigeria after the Civil War was that I attended really good schools with an international pupil population, I grew up a world citizen, self-assured, confident, curious, precocious and inquisitive, our teachers open to questioning and discussion that we were free to be ourselves.

Within the non-formal educational setting, I learnt without noticing it, to appreciate who I was in terms of my identity and consequently my sexuality, though along the way, I was abused, exploited, violated and much else. The end-product is tried by experience good, bad, hard, and bitter, it would not be traded away to anyone, if I could help it.

Nigeria? On my own terms

I can understand my father’s desire for me to return to Nigeria, maybe to visit, even dare to settle down, I do not share any of that sentiment, especially the latter. I am first, an Englishman who happens to have Nigerian parents, I don’t expect many to agree with that, but it is my story to tell, not for others to usurp and retell to their own intentions. I owe no explanation to anyone about my sense of self, you can accept me for who I am or leave me be.

I ran away for my freedom to be who I want to be, I ran away for the need to be independent of influences I cannot reason with to get across my point of view, I ran away to take on responsibilities I choose to shoulder rather than those thrust upon me, I ran away to have my own prerogative in matters concerning myself, my welfare, my sanity and my life. I ran away to thrive outside the confines of unwarranted interference and according to my own terms.

Would I be returning to Nigeria soon? I don’t know, but if I do, it would be on my own terms, at a time of my choosing and if I find it convenient. I guess that is the most inconvenient thing if it gets to the notice of my father, we are not the same person, not by a running mile. Maybe, I could be given a little credit for having my own mind.

Opinion: Religious Soakaways of Talent Needed Elsewhere

Lurch from church to church

As I made for church this morning, I could not help but notice that hardly beyond my temporary abode, I could count 5 churches within the space of 50 yards.

This was no church district like some industrial or a Business Park, but a non-descript residential area with a few corner shops and a prominent fast food restaurant, to allow a liberty of description I rarely give to those places and a busy street running into a junction.

Whilst, each church had some highfalutin spiritual name, with a few of the usual suspects headed by some Nigerian folk, I could not but wonder about the variance in doctrine, dogma, diktat and culture that precipitated the deluge of mushroom churches all around London in grand buildings, converted garages, school halls or strange shelters that we so need that many.

Why this many?

Now, the revelations of Scripture might vary as one might see the dispersion of light through a prism depending on the angle of observation, but is the perspective so different that each person who seems to have the hunch must have their own church and following?

More so, I am concerned about the brain drain that this spate of churches has brought on society, I am of the opinion that many who eventually decide to enter some religious ministry is of probably some other more useful talent and ability, a professional with a different first vocation that probably has had a lot more to contribute to their field of expertise before they withdrew their services for this venture for souls.

I make bold to say that leaders of these outfits do have innate abilities of study, research, standards, articulation and communication that the wider society can so benefit from that we are now missing.

Talent at the pulpit

Academics with knowledge and perspective able to mentor impressionable young minds to excellence and genius, sometimes they could also be the level heads in dispute resolution, all withdrawn from our sadly moribund institutions that education is failing graduands at all levels.

Medical practitioners with skills that our hospitals need, considering how someone opined recently though without reference that a church in Nigeria had produced more pastors than Nigeria had produced doctors since independence.

I cannot corroborate that assertion, but when we read of health statistics and outcomes in our medical establishments that look like a published account of the road to a hellish existence, you wonder why good doctors are not in hospitals but in churches.

Skill to the versed

Engineers that we need for projects for growth and development such that me might not need foreign expertise to man the simplest activities; the engineers with their sense of precision, attention to detail and particularity have left our buildings, bridges, roads and infrastructure in the hands of others either overburdened or ignorant of what to do, some of our best engineers are building spiritual bridges to heaven.

Accountants with an eye on the figures, the costs, the budgets, gatekeepers on the judicious use of capital by reason of checks and audits, besides the ethical and principled perspective these career migrants could bring now totting up the accounts on God’s bank account in the church.

This is not to say that professions are not well manned, but we cannot ignore what has become the religious soakaway of talent where people who have a calling and gift for the society and the communities they exist in have deserted this great calling and crowded into the religious business.

Fishing for gold

This should also be bothersome because many of these crossover professionals to religion do not have formal seminary training apart from adapting the fundamentals of their profession to religious ends.

It is understandable that many professions do not offer great financial reward as it does seem that churches with the crowds that can attract depending of the charisma and the spectacular draw of the leader can become a banking breaking venture with returns that make the eyes water.

Peddling promises like croupiers in the casino of God, the followers are inspired by good talk to gamble on the assurance of better returns than any monetary system can offer, the spectre of hope dangled in sight but just a bit out of reach to keep the lure engaging enough with it being attainable.

Absent accountability

The mushroom churches also appear to have leaders that belong to no formal or established religious hierarchy, they have absented themselves from oversight of independent authority or have extricated themselves by schism from their mother congregations that they are no more accountable to any church organisation, authority or the flock that they oversee, they metamorphose from men of God to gods of men and with that comes error and more opprobrium upon the whole institution of Christianity because there is no order.

We need to get some talcum powder and antihistamine for our itching ears, our desire to seek out those who make us too comfortable to check ourselves or our leadership on the core principles of the faiths we have espoused that we become lobotomised flock conferring infallibility on our leadership excusing every indefensible thing out of dread, shame or embarrassment.

Shut these places down

It goes without need for much reason that these churches or religious establishments will first become lightning rods for public criticism and before long politicians might get interested and it would be a great pleasure to see these mushroom churches exterminated like vermin for they have become a pestilence giving haven to duplicitous leadership that act with impunity without consequence.

Let us reason about what this means for us as individuals, the way we congregate and the people we allow to hold sway in leadership over us with question or curiosity – it is an unhealthy state of affairs and repugnant beyond words.

Nigeria: Is Winners Chapel Losing Respect?

Our culture of cults

Pastor-bashing has almost become a pastime in Nigeria just as much as the churches they have founded have become the objects of much opprobrium. Worse still are attendees of such establishments who by their attitudes have subscribed to the cult of personality and have enslaved themselves to systems that operate no better than shamanist grottos.

We must not however allow the pall of injustice to hang over a demonstrably untenable situation without comment; there comes a time where religious adherents need to cast off the apparent dumbness of sheep that goes for community and fellowship returning to the excitement of using their God-given intellect to review the circumstances they are in.

The basics of the story [1] are: Parents leave twins at church crèche, obtain tags as proof, return to find one of the twins missing, church apparently doesn’t aid investigation, church allegedly interfering with the process, child not found one year on.

Facts of life anywhere

Rather than attempt to rehash elements of the story, I will address some very fundamental points we all need to be aware of.

A religious environment or meeting place despite the atmosphere of piety and solemnity or even feigned holiness in some cases is still a gathering point of people from all strata of society – some good and others not so good with all sorts of motives – there is a possibility that people will let down their guard in such settings when they are to be vigilant – like in society, crimes do happen in churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and grottos too.

Many religious establishments depend on volunteers to function effectively, people generous with their time and means are to be commended but each function and activity comes with a modicum of responsibility even though we work in the implicit trust that within an religious establishment people exercise the best of conduct as if they are licensed and regulated in the functions they perform.

Once volunteers have taken on responsibilities they are responsible for activities entrusted to their care, there greater the responsibility the better the standards of control and supervision must be – in the case of caring for children, it is paramount just as one would not expect sloppily prepared food and drinks to be served endangering the health of patrons, if I may, of the religious establishment.

Ordinary people make communities

A religious establishment will usually have hierarchies, rules and structures to deal with internal issues but when crimes are committed or criminal activity is suspected, it is not the place of that religious establishment to replace the state in the dispatch of police responsibilities for investigation, questioning of suspects and witnesses, securing the crime scene for forensic analysis and prosecuting to the fullest extent of the law those issues that have been identified to require that level of scrutiny.

Much as a religious establishment brings together many strands of society, it is not in and of itself beyond its primary function a police station, a court, a hospital, a school, a restaurant or a shop if it has not exclusively applied to operate as any of those establishments and so the abuse of any of those function must always devolve to civic authorities.

Persons who are found to be professionally skilled in all these areas might take on advisory role or even assume immediate responsibility until such a time that qualified persons not conflicted by affiliation can ensure that adequate and due civil process is followed.

Religious organisations are subject to civil authorities

The Catholic Church presents one of the poorest examples of the separation of Church and State when on having cases of child sexual abuse reported to the senior clergy they attempted to contain the matter rather than hand the cases over to the authorities – the embarrassment they were trying to avoid as well as the people they tried to protect has snowballed into an almost insurmountable crisis.

The case that inspired this blog pertains to Winners Chapel, a sprawling Pentecostal religious organisation that includes businesses and schools with the head of the organisation having gained notoriety for being the richest Nigerian pastor and the having delivered that legendary stinging slap in front of the congregation – this new development appears to compound what from a secular perspective is chronicling a catalogue of abuses.

Cajoled by religious behemoths

On the side of the parents, too many issues need addressing in general. That it took a whole year for the news of a missing child from the Children’s Department of a church to make the headlines is beyond the pale but my second paragraph already shows that people find it difficult, terrifying and sometimes impossible to challenge religious authority on civil matters.

The news story suggests that the church has been actively interfering with the investigation with regards to the police; such that the handlers of the children have not been interviewed to ascertain how a child under their care went missing, they seem to have polluted the narrative to suggest the child did not go missing in the care of the church volunteers, fed false information to the investigation teams and they have intimidated the parents so much that it has taken all this time for the parents to muster the courage to come out against the machinery of a behemoth organisation like Winners Chapel.

Humanity and justice are paramount

If any of the detail in news story bears any semblance of truth, nothing can justify the actions of the church in trying to cover up this case much as the parents are deserving of some sanction for not speaking up the more about this much earlier and forcefully.

In matters like this, victims after reporting matters to the religious leaders of their commune must immediately see that they case is handed over to the civil authorities whilst they engage counsel and advice outside of the structure of their religious settings to see the matter through to its conclusion.

I will continually say that the purpose of religion is for the service of the people, where that purpose is lost, whatever that religious situation is has become irrelevant and with the handling of the case of this missing child purpose and relevance are being lost for expediency.

I am disappointed in all parties involved in this case and most especially the church for not being a better force for justice, for fairness and for right – if people and children cannot feel safe there; the world is indeed a very dangerous place.

Actively seeking the missing child and to be seen to be doing everything to help the police, the parents and every concerned party is the great sense of justice that is required and it is the least one should expect of a religious establishment and most especially if that establishment is Winners Chapel.

Source

[1] Winners Chapel covers-up case of missing child | Daily Times Nigeria

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Pursuing a cause greater than self

A voice lost to human frailty

One really important and possibly powerful voice was missing when the elections in Zimbabwe turned into a seething farce and outrageous charade, the voice of Pius Ncube.

Pius Ncube was until September 11^th 2007 the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bulawayo for just under 10 years and one of the fiercest critics of Robert Mugabe and his policies.

As a religious man with the force and authority of the Roman Catholic Church behind him, he was almost untouchable; as a man amongst his people he had a role of leadership to be the voice of the voiceless and the conscience of the people to shame the government into aligning itself with less suppressive activities and policies.

A cause greater than self

Pius Ncube had to resign his commission because an aspect of human frailty or ill-discipline beclouded the greater office he held as he was caught in adulterous liaisons which were recorded and documented by state security personnel.

For that alone, he lost the ability to project authority and hence the cause and mission was lost – succumbing to the wiles of the flesh in the midst of a greater calling, lost him his dignity, his office and a notable voice for the oppressed of Zimbabwe.

Obviously, we all know that we are fallible, but the position of leadership and authority carries great responsibilities especially where integrity and honour count for much that morality forms part of the bedrock that defines that personality.

Are you what you are?

It goes without saying that you cannot be a man of God and be caught in morally questionable situations, then expect to retain the gravitas that comes with your office even if your flock is willing to forgive and forget.

Also, as a politician, you might get away with all sorts of things, but if you stand on a platform of honesty, strong family values and rectitude, the last thing you want to be caught in is a lapse of judgement that brings your great house of cards crashing down upon you.

Another man gives in

Such is the case of Senator John Edwards, the failed running mate of Senator John Kerry in the 2004 US Presidential elections and former Democratic US presidential hopeful.

After many denials, it has transpired that he had an affair in 2006 [1] whilst preparing his bid for nomination and when his wife’s cancer was apparently in remission.

It really does beggar belief that Senator Edwards would have thought this liaison would not get out – there was not only a grave error of judgement in allowing himself to be caught in an unfortunate moment of weakness, it is amazing that the goal for high office did not slap him in the face that his flesh should submit to a greater purpose.

Lacking a view of consequence

One cannot bear thinking of the consequences of that situation where if Senator Edwards had won the Democratic nomination and the breaking news as that dastardly Olympic spectacle pervades our screens was that the Democratic convention would implode over a reprobate and lying nominee in hardly another 3 weeks.

The nation would have gone into mourning for the next four years whilst many would have yearned for another possible Clinton grab at the mantle of the presidency.

Such is the measure of men who do not have the backbone to vie for office with moral rectitude and a commitment to a cause greater than self.

Bury your bodies

One should not, however, kick a man when he is down, but the fact is if you should vie for leadership or office, your skeletons must not be in a cupboard where others might open the closet and be embraced with skeletal kisses, but the bodies should have been buried deep down in the ground where the bones and fossil remains would lead archaeologists and palaeontologists down the wrong path.

Better still, walk alone, walk like a man with a cause and mission that far exceeds the demands of the flesh that if tempted you will not fall – there are very few men who can walk that walk and those are the few men who are worthy of office, leadership, respect, adulation and the great prize.

If you can fall short, do not aspire or be really, really smart – I cannot say that Senator John Edwards despite his brilliance, success, advocacy and message has been smart.

One slip can lose everything

He has become such damaged goods that the mundane act of sweeping up the bread crumbs behind Barack Obama by campaigning, raising funds or having a platform at the Democratic convention cannot be done.

As for his excuses that aim to justify his position, we need to give it time and time can be an eternity – what a loss to many and what a shame indeed, my heart goes out to Senator John Edwards’ family and in some way to the man himself – how are the mighty fallen, they might yet rise again.

We who speak so loudly probably have skeletons roaming the streets and that is why the little smart thing in our heads prevents us from doing something stupid, like vying for office or seeking authority that brings great scrutiny and expectation of being super-human.

[1] BBC NEWS | Americas | Ex-senator Edwards admits affair