When outsourcing goes bad, part 7 of 16
I am very, very proud of you. The work you are doing is amazing.
When I was hired it was emphasized to me that DevModeMax wanted me to travel to Boston, at least occasionally, and help cement the relationship between AndersonRiskAssessment/Luganesk and DevModeMax. I'd warned them that personal matters would keep me at home the first two months (my mother had recently passed away and I was organizing her memorial) but at the start of my third month I drove up and stayed in a hotel that was just across the street from Luganesk. This was in the suburbs, perhaps 40 minutes outside of downtown Boston. I arrived late in the night, got some sleep, and went into the office the next day.
By coincidence, some of the leadership of AndersonRiskAssessment had just flown in. No one had told me that they would be visiting, but Arwin, the CTO, was there, and several of his assistants.
This was my first time meeting everyone in person: Lucy, Emory, Mack, Daniel. We chatted for about 30 minutes, getting to know each other.
Before I was hired I had a long conversation with Lucy, in which we discussed the difficulties of transitioning from one team to another, given a complex software project. She'd been honest with me about the problems they were facing and I was honest with her about how difficult it might be to turn the situation around. That sense of rapport intensified now that we finally met, and were able to talk directly, through briefly, about the issues we were facing.
There was also a senior level engineer named Gujarat, who was a high level representative of DevModeMax. He apparently traveled America visiting with various clients, to reassure the clients about the skills of DevModeMax.
And then Arwin came in. The first thing I noticed was that he was tall, maybe 6 "1' (185cm). Massive hands. Why would a guy in tech have massive hands? If he'd told me he had worked as a carpenter for 20 years I would have believed him. Maybe he was into sports? Rowing? White water rafting? Sporty, for sure. Early 50s but fit. He was completely bald, with a shaved head that suggested he had no insecurities about the loss of his hair. A strong, masculine jaw. A huge smile, but not a warm smile, more like an assertive, dominating smile.
"You!" he shouted, and he pointed at Emory. "You are doing amazing work!"
He grabbed Emory's hand and held it for a long moment. "I am so glad you are part of this team!"
Then he moved on to Stratton. "You!" he shouted, grabbing Stratton's hand. "I am so, so proud of you! Amazing work!"
He went through the whole crowd like that, smiling, grabbing people's hands, emanating confidence.
"This year is going to be amazing," he said. "And with this team, we can do anything. We can conquer the whole world. With this team, nothing can stop us!"
All of which was meant to be assuring? He had the manner of a sports coach, trying to fire up the team before a big game. And yet I found it worrisome. For me, a calm, rational discussion of the problems with DevModeMax would have been reassuring. But I understand the importance of demonstrating confidence in one's team, and to give credit where it is due, he made an effort.
Read the whole series:
1. But what do these glib little bullet points mean?
2. When the CTO does not trust their own team
3. Everyone is under pressure, everyone is too busy to help
4. They lie. They lie flagrantly. They lie all of the time, about everything.
5. That place is a total sweatshop!
7. I am very, very proud of you. The work you are doing is amazing.
8. I blame you. You suck. You are the problem.
9. We just got $10,000 dollars!!!!
10. The Taj Mahal was built with blood
12. Where are my story points, Gujurat?
13. We are the best people to help him, so why doesn't he want our help?
14. Should a toilet be listed as an amenity?
15. I am simply telling you how things work in India
16. Too big to fail: when you've no option but to brazen it out