New Management Fad SpottedNew Management Fad Spotted

Gartner touts hybrid thinking as the answer to the old-style in-bred thinking. For what it's worth, they have a point.You probably won't read it here last, but the wave of the future is hybrid thinking. At least that's the message from the recent Gartner Enterprise Architecture summit in England.

Wonderful. The trouble is, anyone who's been around for the last few decades has seen a parade of management fads, and will wince at the thought of another one being hailed as the answer to the current malaise. These have included:

As for hybrid thinking, Gartner says it "combines the analytical mastery of architects with the intuitive originality of designers." In practice, this seems to mean consulting with people outside the computer department before making any big plans.

Examples of hybrid thinking put forth by Gartner include the early, direct involvement of users in testing prototypes, letting users establish the value of a product or service, or architecting the enterprise from the outside-in.

It all sounds suspiciously like common sense, but admittedly it's the kind of common sense that can get lost when group-think runs on rails in large organizations. So maybe Gartner will do some good with its new buzzword. Or, they may find that the very people who should be paying attention have developed an immunity to new buzzwords.

Here's a compromise: resolve that you'll do more than talk to yourself when making plans. If you take pride in being both an architect and a designer, then maybe you could indeed benefit from some hybrid thinking.

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