Patrick, as always your advice is very insightful, but it's going to be tough for me to follow it. I've become very apprehensive about sticking my neck out the

Patrick, as always your advice is very insightful, but it's going to be tough for me to follow it. I've become very apprehensive about sticking my neck out there for a new responsibility because in my work environment it has almost invariably been equated with being assigned blame. I'd assume you are quite familiar with the saying "the nail that sticks up gets pounded down." The customer is quite far removed from the development team and honest customer feedback is jealously guarded by management, either blatantly held hostage or creatively misinterpreted to further management's own goals. My immediate supervisor is very supportive, but the management further up the chain that controls requirements, budgeting, and customer interaction hasn't demonstrated the slightest bit of care.