Business Value Compass

Down the Rabbit Hole

"We called him Tortoise because he taught us," said the Mock Turtle angrily: "really you are very dull!" Alice couldn't understand the lesson. But the Mock Turtle knew something she didn't: the most expensive education comes from repeating mistakes already documented, catalogued, and solved by others.

The Mock Turtle's Pattern Recognition Mastery​
Your December Guide Through the Strategic Architecture Constellations

Your mentor, the Mock Turtle, has melancholy wisdom about learning from history to share.

Most enterprise architects watch their organizations build the 12th reporting solution, the 6th document management system, the 4th messaging platform. Each team insists their requirements are unique. "Legal documents are different from HR documents." "Financial reporting needs different technology than operational dashboards." They're solving the same pattern as if encountering it for the first time while 30-40% of IT budgets drain into duplicated commoditized capabilities delivering zero competitive advantage.

The Mock Turtle understands something from his position in the sea: lessons are embedded in every system's history. The question isn't whether you'll learn—it's whether you'll learn from documented wisdom or expensive failure. His tears aren't sadness—they're frustration at watching organizations pay for the same education repeatedly.

What you'll discover in this month's constellation guide:

🐢 Pattern recognition prevents waste - Stop recreating solved problems and leverage architectural wisdom already documented
🔄 Evolutionary architecture adapts - Fitness functions detect drift before it ossifies into the 48th duplicated solution
📚 BTABoK patterns compound knowledge - From individual heroics to institutional intelligence that survives personnel changes
🎯 Platform-as-pattern - Golden paths that make best practices automatic and prevent commodity duplication

The Mock Turtle's wisdom: "The lessons don't lessen when you learn from patterns—they compound. Every duplicated capability consolidated becomes millions saved. Every anti-pattern prevented becomes waste avoided. Really, you should have learned this already."

Ready to stop repeating expensive lessons?

Next month, we complete the Velocity Cluster with our January guide exploring the final constellation pattern. But for now, grab your Pattern Canvas and discover what the Mock Turtle knew all along: in both Wonderland and enterprise architecture, learning from documented patterns beats learning from expensive failure every single time.

Explore the BTABoK Architecture Pattern Repository:https://iasa-global.github.io/btabok/architecture_pattern_repository.html

How many instances of the big-5 commoditized capabilities are you maintaining? Hit reply and share your pattern recognition challenges—I read every response and the Mock Turtle judges silently.

Lesson-learned yours,
​Shawn McCarthy​
Chief Archeologist

P.S. The Mock Turtle would remind you: every day you delay consolidating duplicated capabilities is another day paying for lessons you've already learned. Don't wait for the next strategic planning cycle count your commodity duplications now, and remember: organizations that recognize patterns thrive while those that ignore them pay tuition repeatedly.