The Invisible Spaghetti: Why Your Integrations Are Killing Your Agility

We talk about "Single Source of Truth," but our architecture is really just "Schrödinger's Data."

Let's talk Schrödinger's New Hire.

In quantum mechanics, Schrödinger's cat is simultaneously alive and dead inside a box until someone opens it.

In HR Tech, your new hire, "Bob," exists in a similar state of superposition.

In Workday: Bob is "Hired." He is alive. He has a Employee ID.

In Active Directory: The integration failed at 3 AM. Bob does not exist. He is dead.

So, when Bob shows up on Day 1, he is both an employee and a stranger. He has a desk, but he can't log in. He is caught in the quantum realm of bad architecture.

This is why the phrase "Single Source of Truth" is a lie.

Data doesn't live in the HRIS. Data lives in the wires between systems. And right now, your wires are a mess.

The Issue: Point-to-Point Architecture

Most companies start with simple intentions.

"Let's connect Workday to Payroll." (One line).

"Now let's connect Workday to the LMS." (Two lines).

Fast forward five years. You now have 50 systems. And because you built them all as direct, Point-to-Point (P2P) connections, you don't have 50 lines. You have a hairball.

You have built the Invisible Spaghetti.

It’s easy to ignore because you can't see it on the glossy PowerPoint slides your vendor showed you. But you feel it every time you try to change something.

The "Primary Recruiter" Nightmare

I lived this recently.

We had a simple functional goal: Clean up our Recruiting data.

We wanted to move from having "Multiple Recruiters" assigned to a requisition to just "One Primary Recruiter."

In the boardroom, this sounds like a 5-minute configuration change.

"Just toggle the field, Mike. How hard can it be?"

The Reality:

It was an integration apocalypse.

We discovered that 15 different downstream systems (systems we didn't even know were listening) were hardcoded to expect a list of recruiters. When we switched to a single value, the integrations panicked.

The Job Posting Bot crashed: It tried to scrape a list of email addresses, found a single string, and timed out. Our job postings vanished.

The Careers Site threw errors: The "Contact this Recruiter" widget didn't know who to display, so it displayed an error.

We were held hostage by our own wires. We couldn't make a simple business improvement because the "Change Tax" of fixing the integrations was too high.

The Fix: The Hub (The Holy Grail)

If Point-to-Point is "calling 50 friends individually to invite them to a party," then Middleware is "posting it once in the Group Chat."

In a perfect world (one that I am still actively building towards), we decouple Workday from the chaos.

Workday sends a message to the Hub (Middleware).

The Hub translates it.

Everyone else subscribes to the Hub.

If I change "Multiple Recruiters" to "Primary Recruiter," I only have to update the logic in one place (The Hub). The 15 downstream systems don't even know I changed it. They just get the data they need.

That being said, we aren't there yet. I’m taking recommendations. If you have a middleware setup that actually works and doesn't require a PhD to maintain, my DMs are open.

The Kitchen Table Reality

I saw the physical manifestation of "Point-to-Point Chaos" in my basement last weekend.

My 11-year-old, Justin, has turned the basement into his 3D Printing Lab. It is an impressive operation, but his cable management is...suspect.

Behind the printer rack, there is a rats nest of power cords, USB cables, and ethernet lines. It is the Knot (The Department’s logo) come to life.

The Incident:

Justin wanted to plug in a new Filament Dryer (to save the wet PLA). The power strip was full. He couldn't trace the cables because they were tangled, so he deployed the "Scream Test." He grabbed a random black plug and yanked it out to make room.

The Result:

He unplugged the Mesh Router.

The internet died.

Because the Bambu Lab printer relies on the Cloud to receive instructions (not a local SD card), the 14-hour helmet print (which was at 92% completion) froze instantly.

Justin: "DAD! THE PRINTER STOPPED!"

Me: "You unplugged the backbone to plug in an accessory. This is exactly why we need API Governance."

Justin: "I don't know what that means, but my helmet is ruined. Thanks for nothing, Dad."

The Takeaway

Your integration architecture is just like Justin's basement power strip.

If you don't label your cables, and if you let every vendor plug directly into the wall wherever they want, eventually someone is going to unplug the router to charge their phone, and your entire hiring process will go dark.

Audit your wires. Label the connections. And for the love of everything holy, stop building Point-to-Point.

— Mike

Director HR Tech | Chief Cable Organizer

P.S. If you are a vendor who requires a "Custom Flat File Layout" instead of consuming a standard API... please know that you are the reason I drink.