Re:Ask HN: What was your biggest fuckup of 2014?
by mackraken on Wednesday December 31, 2014 @12:05PM
(#8820070)
<quote>Eight months later it still bothers me, because I should have seen it coming, and because I wasn't able to change it, nor did I find a way to turn it to my advantage.</quote>
I'm dealing this due to a failed project (last year was spent on it).
I (and other team members) did see it coming though. I'm still sad/mad that our higher ups didn't heed credible guidance.
Re:Ask HN: What was your biggest fuckup of 2014?
by davidy123 on Wednesday December 31, 2014 @01:04PM
(#8820325)
Well, more correctly, I did see it coming, but it was like seeing a train wreck happening in slow motion and not being able to stop it. Everyone else on the team found it a problem too, but they wouldn't really organize (or assert themselves in general). But c'est la vie, there are other good opportunities.
After a few years working on the project I'd put in some good ideas that led to $1M+ in funding (mostly grants) and lifted the company from hand to mouth to a real thing. And in general I really helped to shape the organization in positive ways. Unfortunately the person with the direct connection to funding really didn't understand development, wanted me to be something I wasn't, and really had poor people skills as evidenced by the trail of people he'd burned over time. So early this year things got so heated that I left. I've been around for a while and from experience might have left without burning bridges, but while I wasn't rude, I made it very clear that I didn't appreciate what was happening.
Eight months later it still bothers me, because I should have seen it coming, and because I wasn't able to change it, nor did I find a way to turn it to my advantage.