Role of an Architect: Lessons from the movies - Part 3
- Amit Jnagal, Senior Technical Architect, Infosys
In my last post, I talked about the movie Lagaan and the lessons it held for Architects about selling ideas, negotiations, leading change etc.
‘Remember the Titans’ (Year of Release: 2000; Director: Boaz Yakin; Our Architect: Coach Boone, played by Denzel Washington; Architect's Character: Chief Coach of the first mixed race football team) is set against the time of segregation. Then the Government abolished segregated schools and gave the right to all students to enroll in any school. The movie focuses on one such school - T C Williams High School in Virginia which has been educating white students but has now opened up to black students too. There is an atmosphere of tension and apprehension on all sides. In the midst of all this turmoil, Coach Boone lands up as the head coach of the school’s new football team.
Even in the game of football, there is a lot of resistance from both the sides to come together. Coach Boone leads the team to look beyond the color of their skin and teaches them to function as one integrated unit. This movie is based on a true story and the team that the coach put together went all the way to win the high school championship in its first year.
The lessons that an architect can learn from this movie are:
• Leadership Qualities
• Acting as Change Agents
• How to get people of diverse values & backgrounds to come together as a team
• Maturity to appreciate when usual rules do not apply
• Improvisation
Scenes to watch for:
1. There is a scene during the initial rounds of practice when a black team mate is confronted by the captain, who happens to be white, on how he is not playing for the team. The captain goes on to describe this player as a waste of God gifted talent and criticizes his attitude. To this, the black player replies – “Attitude reflects the leadership, Captain.” He further substantiates his statement by pointing out how some of the white players are not playing the game in the correct spirit, right under the captain’s nose and how that does not bother him.
This is one big, big take away from this movie. In our world too, attitude of the team that we are working with reflects the attitude and approach of the leader. This particular scene teaches us the value of being fair, treating every team member with respect and impartially. It also emphasizes the importance of seeking feedback from the juniors who work with you directly. This can happen informally, over a cup of coffee or a beer. What differentiates a good architect from a great architect is the latter’s ability to be open to criticism and adaptability to change.
2. After the end of a very trying training camp which lasts for a few weeks, Coach Boone congratulates the selected team by saying – “I am not going to talk to you about winning or losing. You are all winners in my book already. Because you did not kill each other at the camp”.
The very simple gesture of appreciation can go a long way in boosting your team’s morale. And yet, we don’t see it happening as often as it should. This is doubly true for high risk, high stake projects because everyone gets so engrossed in the day to day work that there is hardly any time for appreciation. Regardless of the nature and complexity of the project that you work on, do remember that you are working with people; people, who are not machines. Appreciation is a nice gesture that should be displayed whenever the opportunity arises. For complex projects you should list it as a to-do item in your task list to look for opportunities for appreciation the same way you find out time for reviews.
3. In the concluding scene of the movie, there is a dialogue by one of the coach’s daughters – “People say that it can't work - black, white. Here we make it work every day. We still have our disagreements, of course, but before we reach for hate, always, always, we remember the Titans.” That, kind of, sums it all up!
Gives you a true picture of how team with diverse backgrounds can come together and achieve wonders under the architect’s leadership. Need I say more?
