IT Industry Blues – Part 23.f3g4.292: Death of a Team Player
His name was Willie. He lived for the Team. He was respected by all and chosen above most to be on their Team. He was the penultimate Team Player.
He worked long hours. He worked evenings and weekends. He worked without question. He followed directions and never questioned the wisdom of the project manager, the quality manager, the programming manager, the marketing manager, the department manager, the sales manager, the production manager, the media arts manager, the human resource manager, the training manager, the documents manager, the employee benefits manager, the version control manager, the tool development manager, the …
One day he arrived at the office ready to work and smile till midnight. His “yes sir” and his "I'll-get-right-on-it" were impeccable, and he viewed the world through perfectly glazed eyes. His swivel chair folded around this hips like an Alpha release condom. He looked into his monitor and recognized – at some biological level – his soul swinging between the pixels of the Windows XP background.
He sat with his fingers on the keyboard, ready to map his life to the deliverables of the Gantt chart and do proud by the custom development manager, the process flow manager, the employee orientation manager, the project kick-off manager, the systems administration manager, the technical review manager, the market intelligence manager, the …
He sat with his eyes fixed to the monitor. He sat, and his fingers were motionless. Something was out of place. Something was askew. He looked around at the cubicles of the development department. Every seat was empty; every cubicle, deserted.
And the truth was revealed. He was the last Team Player. Everyone else had been promoted to manager. He was the only one left on the Team.
But there could be no Team of one.
Impossible.
He evaporated.
The Gantt chart was modified.
No one ever noticed.
And Remember: People do not exist to fulfill the needs of work, work exists to fulfill the needs of people.
posted by Biff at 1:41 p.m.
2 Comments:
After a very hectic week, a hot bath and a couple glasses of vino-I sit here smiling at your blog.
I do enjoy your observations!
Especially where he saw his soul somewhere being lost in the computer. I wonder how many people feel that their soul is lost in daily routine...i wonder.....
IT Industry Segue (GovernmentStyle):
There's a policy, but no will to deliver it;
There's a will, but the Generals haven't sanctioned building the bridge;
There's a bridge, but it's only been planned - not built;
There's a plan, but no-one wants to sign-off on it;
There are signatories, but none of them want to get ink on their hands;
There are hands, but they report to heads without hands;
There are heads, but they lack eyes to see;
There are eyes, but they are blinded by ignorance;
There is ignorance, but it hides behind fear;
There is fear, but fearing the known is safer, compared to fearing the unknown;
There is the unknown, but many who pretend to be knowledgeable;
There are the knowledgeable, but they left to become a Team Player.
Let the Cycle begin once more.
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