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The issue of "so smart he needs a challenge so leave something for him to find" may overlap with "so narcissistic he needs something to smack you with so make a
by ctdonath 15y ago
The issue of "so smart he needs a challenge so leave something for him to find" may overlap with "so narcissistic he needs something to smack you with so make a deliberate 'mistake' for him to find". I've found this quite effective; some people just need to find _something_ wrong with your idea/presentation/execution, so when they're going to review it, don't polish it to perfection - leave an error somewhere; you know what the mistake is, you know what the solution is, you'll take care of it right after it's noticed, and you'll give him _something_ to criticize so he doesn't have to invent some off-the-wall delusion which you must now accommodate.
I'm not equating smart with narcissistic, just noting similar behavior with similar ways to mitigate damage vectors.
- ArbitraryLimits 15y agoI've always called this tactic "The Admiral's Pipe" after this story: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brada/archive/2005/05/12/417064.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/brada/archive/2005/05/12/417064.aspx
- thristian 15y agoIt's also been called The Duck: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2349378/new-programming-jargon-you-coined/2444361#2444361 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2349378/new-programming-j...
- curiouskat 15y agoYeah, the trick to getting some people to go along with something is getting them to think it's their idea. Leaving parts out so they can provide input and fill in the gaps is a way of guiding them down the path -- you're essentially manufacturing buy-in.
- protomyth 15y agoLeaving something minor but wrong for a government site visit team to find is not an uncommon tactic. They feel they did their job, and the site doesn't get written up for something truly insane. // no, I'm not still bitter about be written up for having too many (1 onsite, 3 offsite) secured backups.