I received some bad news yesterday afternoon, that my job (along with everyone not located in four specific offices, ~200 IT folks) is being eliminated.  Obviously this is not news anyone ever wants to get, but it gives me an idea to cap off my final blog entry for EA 874, as well as the EA MPS program which I complete this semester.  Flexibility, flexibility is key.  So what does any of this have to do with EA and specifically with evaluating emerging technologies?  It makes me wonder: what happens even with the best analysis, you find yourself betting on what ends up to be the wrong future tech.  

It reminds me of a discussion I had with  a colleague of mine last summer who is in Germany (where EU labor laws make mass layoffs quite difficult!).  He was in the middle of the design phase of a project to migrate some applications from a data center located in Austria and had two options for the destination: data centers in London or Belfort, France.  All of their planning and analysis said London would ultimately be the best choice, for a variety of reasons, cost, accessibility, and future scalability.  But then the unexpected Brexit vote happened  and all of that analysis was turned on its head.   Long story short, everything was moved to France.  The EA life cycle operates on a scale of years, much longer than the rate at which new technologies appear on the scene.  Business disruptions can come suddenly and unexpectedly.  This really leaves two options.  1) The EA must be robust enough to account for major disruptions, e.g. a plan “B” or 2) the organization must be prepared and willing to pivot in response to the unexpected disruption.

So, perhaps it’s fitting that I’m about to be starting a new chapter in my professional career now, right as I’ve completed the EA program.  Whether professionally or personally, life constantly will throw you curve balls.  The only thing you can really do is be prepared.