Tuesday, June 3, 2008

A Few Good Men - The Project Delivery Version

I eat breakfast three hundred yards away from four thousand CMMI SQA's who are trained to pick me off. So don't think for one second that you can come down here, flash an SOA card, and make me nervous.

Son, we live in a world that needs working software, and those software need to be delivered by men like me. Who's gonna do it? You? The Enterprise Architects? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for your SOA and curse the project team. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that discarding your SOA, while tragic, probably saved L3 Support from countless tickets. And that my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, brings in the budget. You don't want the truth - because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me running the teams.

You need me in those teams.

We use words like scalability, throughput, latency. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line.

I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very projects that I deliver, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said "thank you" and went on your way. Otherwise, I'd suggest you pick up a Gartner magic quadrant and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!



Inspired by A Few Good Men...
"You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls. And those walls have to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg?

I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives...You don't want the truth. Because deep down, in places you don't talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.


We use words like honor, code, loyalty...we use these words as the backbone to a life spent defending something. You use 'em as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then questions the manner in which I provide it! I'd rather you just said thank you and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you're entitled to!"

3 comments:

Nishith Prabhakar said...

Nice one. I could imagine you speaking in Jack Nicholson's voice and accent.

Arun said...

This has been running in my head for the past 1 year when implementing EBICS

Anonymous said...

sweet!