The last couple of years have brought me into contact with some truly great thinkers and actors on the enterprise applications world stage. People I admire, respect and whose company is always interesting and fun. Many are members of the Enterprise Irregulars, an eclectic collection of practitioners, ex-analysts, ex-Big Consulting, innovators, developers, business people and the odd hack or ex-hack. One of them is Thomas Otter, a senior architect at SAP.
Today, Thomas formally announced he’s leaving to join Gartner after a decade at what he and others affectionately call Starship Enterprisey. In his valedictory post, Thomas says:
Through SAP I’ve met and worked with some of the leading companies in the world. I’ve had the pleasure of getting smarter through the osmosis effect of hanging out with clever and open people. Without SAP, we would have not learnt German, nor felt as at home in this formerly strange land as we now do. It has been far more than just an employer to me and my family.
In the 37 years I’ve watched people come and go from one employer to another, I can count on the fingers of less than two hands the number who could make that statement with the sincerity that shines through in Thomas’s post. The last time was when another Irregular, Jeff Nolan made a similar transition.
Those who read this blog with any degree of regularity will know I am pretty hard on SAP as a supplier to the enterprise community. But it’s difficult to find fault with an employer that has DNA capable of provoking this sort of reaction. Or the passion with which Thomas has defended his company in the time I’ve known him. Can you say the same? Does your firm inspire you the same way SAP has inspired Thomas? If it does then you are fortunate.
Thomas joins Jim Holincheck, a Gartner analyst I’ve known for more years than I care to remember and who first introduced me to Vinnie Mirchandani way back when. I have no doubt it will be a great move for Thomas and for Gartner. I wish Thomas the very best as he takes the next step in his career and pursues his passion for curiosity.
In some senses it feels like I occupy a small world. But one that’s all the better for sharing with folk like Thomas. Go visit Thomas’s post if for no other reason than to ponder on the golden words of Robert Frost and see what others are saying. As I said in a comment to his post: Don’t be a stranger – we love you bro.’
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