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Spot on, its often middle management not really understanding engineering, and think they can do better by just have someone else do it for them, but total lack

Spot on, its often middle management not really understanding engineering, and think they can do better by just have someone else do it for them, but total lack of foresight on the consequences, which to be fair they probably won't have to deal with before they switch jobs.

g_p 5y ago
The chronic short-term thinking seems to come from the "business" pressures to deliver results by financial quarters to meet specific dates/deadlines. The business is expected to align around these timelines, even where inconvenient. I've seen car dealers offering significant discounts because they are trying to hit their end-of-quarter target. I've locked-in phone contracts with service at below the actual handset cost (when multiplied out by the contract duration) because I called late in the day on the last day of the quarter, and staff are trying to hit bonuses. Something you do see a lot in telecoms is entering an outsourcing contract where you transfer your own (skilled, experienced) engineering staff out to the contractor - this is long-term suicide, but in the short-term it reduces your outgoings on the balance sheet. To me, this is proof that it's just a game of short-term balance-sheet bingo, and I think you hit the nail on the head - the managers won't have to deal with this, as they'll bounce to another "generic business role" and ruin that organisation in a few months.