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I worked for a well-known software company (everyone here has used their software, I would guess), and they had this, "we're doing cutting edge stuff and need y
by SiVal 13y ago
I worked for a well-known software company (everyone here has used their software, I would guess), and they had this, "we're doing cutting edge stuff and need young, hungry engineers" notion in spades. At one point, a VP announced to me that they were going to build a certain software project and the CEO had decreed that it would be done in 90 days. I, an "older engineer", chuckled. I assumed that she was complaining about how silly this was and looking to me for a "Plan B". I started to provide one, but she cut me off. She was offended that I "wasn't fully on board" with Plan A. She was really miffed and said that her developers were "behind it 100%".
My experience indicated that they were planning to use too many "new things" simultaneously. If any one beta-level technology failed, the whole project would fail. My Plan B was to essentially solve the main problem it was meant to solve with a minimal core built with tools we knew would work. Put that online on time, then incrementally upgrade features using the new technologies.
Since my group would need some of the services of this software project, I went off and built part of Plan B myself (the part covering what our group would need) as a secret side project using old fuddy-duddy technologies that worked but weren't new, exciting, and unknown. When the 90-day project wasn't ready on Day 90, I put my own online. It worked perfectly. This VP and her minions were angry about it. "It demonstrated a lack of faith in her team."
Two YEARS later, their 90-day Plan A finally shipped. She and the CIO never forgave me, though. I, the old guy, had used 80/20 to deliver the core of what was needed on the day they said it was needed, and I did it alone. Still, they remained convinced that "young, hungry" engineers were more likely to "be on board" with projects like the one they designed, and that was what mattered.
- aswanson 13y agoYoung, hungry engineers and ceo on ship day, surrounding a keg in celebration: "We have made fire!"
- dennisgorelik 13y agoWhat would have happened if you did not create your side project?
- SiVal 13y agoThe US and EU markets would have been forced to keep using the old system, which is what they ended up doing. They assumed they were about to switch over to the new system in a few weeks, so my system would be of no use to them. Why switch to my Plan B if Plan A was just around the corner? They continued assuming the Plan A was about a month or two away for two years. The Asian locales had no old system to fall back on, so when Plan A didn't ship and I revealed my (fully localized) Plan B, they adopted it immediately. If I hadn't done my Plan B, the Asians would have had to go back to product registration by postcard.
- rbanffy 13y agoOf course the young and hungry engineers were on board with the impossible plan. They knew no better. I've seen countless failures like this. I was able to stop a couple before they collided with harsh reality. It never got me any friends in upper management, but saved a couple companies.
- kamaal 13y agoNote: Never do 80/20 or even 100/20(this is a fact). I've pretty much realized this the hard way. If you are very good, you will be perceived by your bosses not as an asset but as a threat to their own positions. And what will follow next if they coming up with most ingenious way to screw you. Seems like that is exactly what has happened to you. If your success had made a big story, it would have become a case study. It becomes intellectually insulting to them. It directly means they are not capable of doing their jobs properly. One fact every one need to realize, It's great to be young. But age is not static. Those who are young today have a very narrow window of 9-10 years. Beyond that we are all the same.