Goin’ Down in Flames

Yesterday I watched someone shoot themselves in the foot and it was painful. He had come up with a way of building something that he thought was the best long term solution, but had been over ruled by our boss because it would take longer to build than what had been promised. It’s the classic technology: build for the future or get it out in a reasonable timeframe dilemna. So after our status meeting, after the Project Manager had left the room, he presented his idea to the business people despite having explicitly been told not to. What he doesn’t understand is that the business is going to want the long term solution, but still in the short term solution time frame and when we can’t deliver that, we are the failures (whether that seems sane or not, that is how it works in technology - at least where I work). yikes. I kind of watched in horror - knowing that in a way, it was the right thing for him to do, yet also knowing our boss is going string him up by his ankles when he finds out.