Huzzah: Whatever's been borking Dilbert for the last several days has apparently been fixed. Because my own brand of cynicism and sarcasm is so bush-league, I missed my daily dose of the All-Pro stuff, y'know...
Tuesday's strip is no exception. Sometimes my boss seems to live out of a suitcase, criss-crossing the USA and wearing out the battery on his cellphone, all to convince potential clients that we really can make life simpler for them than they could make it for themselves. Various co-workers sometimes tag along as backup for the particularly nerdy pow-wows. From the perspective of a lowly "project manager," whose instincts are to cut to the chase, the process is mind-blowingly Byzantine. I honestly don't know where the patience comes from.
But it really illustrates the point that when money and managerial karma is on the line, relationships matter. More than blingy technology. Surprisingly often, even more than who pitched the smallest bid and the biggest promises. At the root, it's a trust of sorts--trust in who seems most likely to make good on the implicit promise that their understanding of what needs to be done mostly overlaps with yours. Because that's really where it counts. Not how many rent-a-coders you can throw at the specifications and deadline.
