Probably a democrat and an obama voter...
emdfl | Email | Homepage | 07.02.09 - 6:20 pm | #

Give your common boss an FYI memo or such and let the boss call the shot.
Rich | Email | Homepage | 07.02.09 - 6:45 pm | #

Yeah, that was just a lovely call to listen in on from the other side of the door.

Some days I wonder just how the hell you're supposed to get anything accomplished.
Melody Byrne | Email | Homepage | 07.02.09 - 7:31 pm | #

Rich got it right; make sure you document all aspects of your interaction as well.
T F Stern | Email | Homepage | 07.02.09 - 7:31 pm | #

Sometimes, it's nice to be the only gorilla in my very small pond... (My employees have learned, however, that it's best if my contact w. customers is rather limited... I think the only time I've been asked to talk to one, is when he's so irritated by the fellas, they'd prefer the customer to be "fired"...)
Aglifter | Email | Homepage | 07.02.09 - 11:50 pm | #

Im worried about facing a similar situation at work myself soon. Im interning for a major retailer. One of the projects they put me on has kinda snowballed.

Basically another business group is making decisions that doubles our workload and makes what we do very manpower intensive. I was forwarded an email by one person in that group that basically said they knew it was extra work for us, but they knew our side of the business...no big deal.

No, actually its a couple of millons of dollars a year in direct labor.

Im supposed to make a presentation next week to my bosses boss about it. Ive been told to be very careful as I will be stomping all over some peoples toes. The guy Im presenting to will love it, but others will not.

My plan was to just put that person's words up on the screen and let them speak for themselves, pointing out that the real issue is they dont understand our side of the business at all.

I just dont want to start a potential career by pissing off whole business units...
Taylor | Email | Homepage | 07.03.09 - 7:13 am | #

Man, I'm going to have to save this post somewhere. Change one or two minor specifics, and this story is Every. Single. Exchange. I've had with Higher Up for the last two years.

(And yes, at this point the camel's back has been sufficiently over-strawed. Pity the hunt for other work isn't going faster, but que sera and all)
Stingray | Email | Homepage | 07.03.09 - 11:44 am | #

Funny.

Does he have the technical knowledge to understand how the amount of data to be passed can affect the design of an infrastructure?

If he's a peer, and he manages to see blocking you from doing your job as a sacred duty of *his* job- then you NEED management intervention.
Greg | Email | Homepage | 07.03.09 - 11:47 am | #

He may be your peer, but it is obvious that he does not see himself in this context. You need to have your common superior clarify this issue. If it is not resolved now then it will continue. given a choice of, either, or, or is usually the right choice.
Bob
bob | Email | Homepage | 07.03.09 - 3:02 pm | #

Call me crazy, but isn't the POINT of most corporate business to cover their ass, not to "solve the problem"?
Ben M | Email | Homepage | 07.04.09 - 12:56 am | #

Kinda reminds me of an ex-girlfriend talking (to the extent that she could) about her work as a civilian programmer for the Navy writing decryption software without being given any access to the cyphertext.
Cybrludite | Email | Homepage | 07.06.09 - 1:52 pm | #

Been there, though my situation was for an external client.

I was brought into a discussion as the "tech rep." The client had hired us on a fixed-fee arrangement to provide a step-by-step project plan for splitting off a division and its infrastructure due to a divestiture and sale. They needed to split off parts of the AD Structure, file and database servers and a good chunk of their Exchange mailboxes and archives as well. This was a very non-trivial operation.

The "account management" guy was trying to get out of it with a high-level one-pager though we were being paid for a detailed, step-by-step plan.

I asked some questions in the meeting, asked for a couple of diagrams to help me understand the environment, etc -- for them to be delivered via e-mail for my later perusal and plan development -- and this AM literally attacked me. He was literally screaming at me in front of the client -- "I TOLD you I didn't want to get into details in this meeting..." I was STUNNED. I backed off and got out as soon as I could, stopping down the road to document the experience for my manager.

A few days later I was actually written up -- this Account Manager got the client all worked up and talked them into accusing me of attempting to manipulate them to generate more billing. Customer complaints -- ESPECIALLY alleging impropriety -- were serious business. I signed the write-up and attached a copy of my previous concerns - that they were trying to give the client less than they'd paid for and I was trying to ensure we honored our contract. The job was assigned to someone else who allowed the A.M. to write the doc, which ended up looking more like a template than a project plan.

Fast forward a quarter or so, and I got dragged back into a conference room for a "hang 'em high" meeting. The client had attempted to follow the "plan" we'd given them and started running into all the problems I'd attempted to ward off. They ended up engaging a competitor who - rightly - told them they'd been ripped off, and that what we'd given them was at best worthless.

At this point they were demanding a refund of all fees paid, otherwise they intended legal action for our errors and omissions.

I pulled out copies - print and electronic - of my previous "alerts" on the topic, passed them out, and told the parties involved if they had further questions after reviewing that info I could be reached through the usual means and would be happy to help in any way I could.

The A.M. and the other "consultant" involved quietly resigned, I never heard anything more about it, but the "reprimand" stayed in my file. I ran into the client later out in the mall -- we had one of those "don't I know you" moments... When he realized who I was, he apologized profusely and said he now understood what had happened.

It really didn't hurt me in the long run, but was an undeserved black-mark on an otherwise spotless record... Luckily my integrity was never a question - the problem was only an unhappy client...
Dedicated_Dad | Email | Homepage | 07.23.09 - 6:52 pm | #