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Re: The Time I Lied to the CTO and Saved the Day

Any impressionable kids reading... this story playing out like it did is highly company-dependent, as well as luck-dependent.

In a healthy company/organization:

* That outsourcing implementation approach probably wouldn't have happened, because an experienced person could've guessed how that would turn out, before it was started (it's such a cliche).

* Earlier on, people would tell the CTO it wasn't working out, instead of lying and saying the opposite.

* Whenever they needed to do something smarter/creative to rescue the project, they could work with the CTO on that, and maybe even with the customer.

* There wouldn't be marathon whip-cracking over the holidays, especially not after the team was already burning out.

* A manager/lead would go to bat for the success of the project and the health of the team, and insist upwards that the team needed a break over the holidays, if that needed to be clarified.

On that last point, in a "half-healthy" organization, a manager might intentionally be very vague, and omit information. That happens, and might or might not be a good idea, depending.

But the way this story is told, it sounds like the manager/lead outright lied repeatedly up the chain of command, which is generally considered very-bad, in both healthy and unhealthy companies.

I'll add that these things are vastly easier to armchair-quarterback. Certainly we're all going to make mistakes, especially when put in difficult positions, and/or when overextended/fatigued. But it helps to look at scenarios, to try to learn from them, and to think from a distance how they might've been handled better, so you're armed with that "experience", the next time you're tossed into a rough situation that has some similarities.

neilv, 7 hours ago

www.tg-me.com/us/HN Best Comments/com.hn_best_comments/22141

825 viewsMay 9 at 10:49

Re: The Time I Lied to the CTO and Saved the Day

Any impressionable kids reading... this story playing out like it did is highly company-dependent, as well as luck-dependent.

In a healthy company/organization:

* That outsourcing implementation approach probably wouldn't have happened, because an experienced person could've guessed how that would turn out, before it was started (it's such a cliche).

* Earlier on, people would tell the CTO it wasn't working out, instead of lying and saying the opposite.

* Whenever they needed to do something smarter/creative to rescue the project, they could work with the CTO on that, and maybe even with the customer.

* There wouldn't be marathon whip-cracking over the holidays, especially not after the team was already burning out.

* A manager/lead would go to bat for the success of the project and the health of the team, and insist upwards that the team needed a break over the holidays, if that needed to be clarified.

On that last point, in a "half-healthy" organization, a manager might intentionally be very vague, and omit information. That happens, and might or might not be a good idea, depending.

But the way this story is told, it sounds like the manager/lead outright lied repeatedly up the chain of command, which is generally considered very-bad, in both healthy and unhealthy companies.

I'll add that these things are vastly easier to armchair-quarterback. Certainly we're all going to make mistakes, especially when put in difficult positions, and/or when overextended/fatigued. But it helps to look at scenarios, to try to learn from them, and to think from a distance how they might've been handled better, so you're armed with that "experience", the next time you're tossed into a rough situation that has some similarities.

neilv, 7 hours ago

BY HN Best Comments