The boss who knows best
Back in the last century I designed a system used by a top motorsport team to test, monitor, and archive results of engines and exhaust systems, display them as graphs in a separate piece of software (it was a long time ago) and then match the best pair. It was the last part that the team boss was not happy about as he stood over me in his office 40 miles from my base, shouting as though it was the only thing he knew how. I calmly explained that I had followed the weightings in the algorythm as we had discussed (and got him to sign) before I began on the project. He physically ripped up that piece of paper, shouted that I had written it all down wrong and that this engine should be matched to that exhaust, with no further explanation that I could discern under the torrent of abuse and spittle. (As a wet behind the ears youngster, the kudos of working for such a team, stopped me from walking out, which I certainly would do now.) I altered the weightings in the algorythm (de-optimising them for about 10 minutes) until I found a set that would produce the result his guy wanted. His grumble then was why it had only taken 10 minutes to get the correct result when it had taken weeks to produce the system that gave the 'wrong' results!
As I left, I was taken aside by the Engineering Manager, who had witnessed the whole affair. He took me out to lunch, saying that it was the funniest hour that he had experienced - apparently all the shouting was the boss getting more and more frustrated that I was calmly getting on with my job, and how could they put the original (optimal) weightings back into the system. I told him the menu option to use and pointed out that the original values were in an appendix to the software user manual.
Looking back, after the explanation from the Engineering Manager, it is an amusing anecdote, but it was not pleasant at the time. Yes, the best bo11ockings are given very calmly.
I've kept the team anonymous as the boss died a few years later from a heart attack.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
