Thoughts for a frustrated Wednesday...

[mapsedge]

It takes almost more self-discipline than I possess when told, "This is just like we discussed..." to not reply, "Noooooo...this is what YOU discussed in the first fifteen minutes of the meeting, but not what we decided in the next forty-five."

Comments

[starwyse.livejournal.com]

Did the other issue get resolved as I noticed the edit before I commented...

S~

[billthetailor.livejournal.com]

It was just a general feeling more than anything else. I hate the taste of crow, so I tend to clam if I'm not confident my position is unassailable; a difference in the styles between me and my partner here.

He will provide an answer to an issue, right or not, so that the customer will "like" him. As long as I never have to retract a statement made to a client, I don't much care if they like me or not, surprise surprise.

Yesterday, he was uncomfortable with an answer I gave to a client*. It was the correct answer, but not the answer they (or he) might have wished for, and he tried (keyword: tried) to call me on the carpet for it.

I won't lie to make a client happy. I WILL NOT.

So, that's in general terms what the comment was about. Written the way it was, though, short and flippant, it came across as so nauseatingly self-righteous that I deleted it.

* Yes, there's a whole post there. I'm working on it. :)

[starwyse.livejournal.com]

Oh the joy of partnership *sarcasm*
I really struggle when people who do everything to be liked - including lie.

I hear you.

S~

[glesyn.livejournal.com]

Ah....got to love integrity.

I grok

[iarraidh.livejournal.com]

Our old boss/owner used to do that kind of stuff.

He'd come into the Monday morning Technology Dept meeting and drop some idea we couldn't conceivably pull off in our laps. We'd go over how we can't begin to achieve it with the current hardware/network, the programmers would show him in great detail why this will take months to implement, and we'd work out as best we could how to go from there, and leave the meeting thinking we had a compromise.

Then he'd go sell his original brain fart to customers.
Said customers would then expect us to implement the impossible, and the boss would climb on our asses for failing to do what HE promised the customer - citing "we worked this out in the meeting".

This was a regular occurance. Each Monday the company's long-range vision was steered a different direction by something shiney he found on the Internet and decided was the direction we should go - regardless of feasability.
That new critical mission would supercede all previous critical missions.

When customers were not getting the product he had promised them 17 critical missions ago, since we were now developing This Week's critical mission, again he'd come climb our asses for underachieving the goals.

There never was a Plan; then a Process to move along that plan; then monitoring the Progress of that process; then adjustments to focus more tightly on the original Plan.
You know; like a REAL business model would dictate.

Re-invent the company every Monday morning and have heads rolling by Friday afternoon because that detour fell of yet another cliff.