The defect hoopla

He was just dragging his legs towards the "Gallows"...was he going to be hung for his mistakes or derided in front of his own people or banished forever???!!. The scene described here ironically refers to the emotions felt by Rohit, a software developer whose code had a bug and meeting was called forth to describe how this situation could have been averted. He was musing over all possible lines of defence he could take. His options were "I did not send that mail", "I did not code that function", "someone tampered with my computer", in final desperation he also wanted to shout "Earthquake people run!! run for your lives!"...

He expected the room to be filled with gleeful spectators waiting to see the lion slay the man as in the roman times...He felt indignant and made an oath to himself that he will never help any of those people with their code ever again! This was not even his first choice.He was one of those people caught up in this giant spider web of deceit.

He remembered how huge the corridors had looked when he first stepped into the company. The Business Unit head had personally addressed him and said he was being offered this splendid opportunity of working on such cutting edge high-end technology which will provide him with ample opportunities to broaden his technical skill-set and further explore the managerial abilities buried deep inside him!!(abyss would have been a favorable word)....if someone came up to him and said that dialogue now, he would slap that guy and say "Yeah right!"... but then we are all novices at some point in our lives.

Moving on from one lousy and supposedly high-end project to another he had finally hit upon a project where the skills obtained could actually be put down on his resume(apart from Microsoft word, excel and powerpoint)...but he had ruined this for himself. The mistake not exactly being only his, still cost him his self-dignity, something that he still possessed or atleast thought he did. And then it hit him, a brainwave, could it work??

It was only him and the manager.... apparently not everyone was invited to this defect hoopla. He told the manager "Sharath, I'm quitting!".The expression on his manager's face "PRICELESS!".

Sharath(now almost falling from his chair): Oh what caused this sudden decision on your part?

Rohit: Well the working ethics of this project coupled with the stress of forestalling defects and managing time constrained deliveries do not confirm with what I expect from a project"

(Rohit gave a self satisfied smug look that seemed to say "Yeah I have learnt to say such stuff too").

Sharath: Er...Ehem...(say something!anything!) But you are one of our most enterprising employees... we cannot afford to lose you.

Rohit: But the consequences of this particular defect has shown me that may not be a the case.(He hazarded this statement not knowing what it might provoke!)

Sharath: I'm extremely impressed at your being such a responsible person. you are the cog that holds this team together

Rohit: It has come to my hearing that Clientele were misinformed about my work and are not happy about it?

Sharath: You shouldn't believe all that you hear. On the contrary I'm just sending them a mail informing about your latest responsibilities and discussing about your onsite opportunities

Rohit: Well will this mistake be taken up during my appraisal?(gaining confidence with every question!)

Sharath: Say no more...these things happen in a project.I give you my word it will not affect your appraisal. I have personally done bigger mistakes and escaped scott free(with a sheepish grin!)

Rohit: (Of course you did n you still do!) Well my personal life has taken a toll since I started working on this project

Sharath: Oh I totally understand...take a week off!! go for a vacation and lets not hear about this resignation any more.Keep up your good work....

Rohit: Sure!!!(he had formulated a new all-in-all strategy! Success sure is sweet!)