Leadership on Phillip Büchler

A Field Guide to Enterprise IT

Mon, 02 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Enterprise IT is a remarkably resilient ecosystem. It has survived mainframes, outsourcing, the cloud and at least two attempts to transform transformation itself.

Its inhabitants are just as adaptable. The same person can be a visionary in the strategy workshop at nine, a sceptic in the architecture board at eleven, and very confident after lunch about why the decision has to wait until Q2.

What follows is a guide to the most common species. Think of them as costumes rather than personality types, since most of us wear several, depending on the room. You’ll probably recognise a few colleagues. If you don’t recognise yourself anywhere, read it again.

Knowing When to Stop

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The gorilla debate never ended. Nobody won it. People just got bored and moved on to the next question.

In the first post of this series I argued that this is a problem with taking a question apart. It has no natural end. You can always split it once more. In the second I looked at the people who go first into the unknown, and ended on an uncomfortable observation: they often don’t come back out.

Both endings point to the same gap. Programmes are good at planning the programme, with milestones and go-live dates. What’s often missing is a definition of done for the single topic inside it. When is this question answered well enough? When is this person’s part finished? That gap applies to thinking, and it applies to people.

Who Goes First

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

In the last post I took apart a silly internet question: could 100 unarmed men beat one gorilla? Most serious answers agreed the men win eventually, if they accept heavy losses. One sub-question stayed with me. Who goes first?

The man who started the debate gave the most honest answer. He would join the 100, just not the first wave. Most of us would say the same.

So the first wave is made of volunteers, and probably the bravest ones. Here is the paradox. It takes brave people to go first. It also takes brave people to keep going after watching the first wave go down. If the bravest all go first, who is left for the rest of the fight?

100 Men and a Gorilla

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I was walking my dog the other day and asked myself how I would explain critical thinking to students. Not the textbook version. The version where you take a question apart and find out it was never one question. My dog had no opinion on the matter.

The example I landed on is a bit embarrassing: 100 men against a gorilla. If you missed it, the question started as a Reddit thread in 2020 and went properly viral in late April 2025. Could 100 unarmed men beat one silverback? TikTok argued, zoo directors gave interviews, and at least one US senator shared his view on the record.¹