In your opinion what does an organization which does pay for Sistine Chapels of code look like? That's a hard question. Until recently, people relied on instit

In your opinion what does an organization which does pay for Sistine Chapels of code look like? That's a hard question. Until recently, people relied on institutions to set visions, take on big projects, and think to the future. Whatever you think of governments, churches, and universities, they had long-term plans and that prevented them from being too greedy or focused on the short term. These days, individuals have more long-term vision than the corporations that they work for. Programmers can expect a fight if they want 30-40 year careers. It can be done, but you have to "steal time" at most companies to keep abreast of changes, contribute to open source, etc. Companies are now in next-quarter mode, because it's a way to hide the fact that most companies are being looted by their executives. If you create a sense of short-term desperation and mandatory immediate focus, then people are distracted from the hands in the corporate coffers. You basically don't see people thinking further ahead than three months in most companies. So now we rely on individuals to set the long-term course, but individuals are (coincidence of words not intended) individually effective but rarely as coherent as a well-run institution. We rely on individuals for long-term orientation because organizations no longer make themselves adequate.