It seems that no matter how smart our systems get, we are our own worst enemies. That's right, you and me. We all do stupid things then try and blame it on the system or on anyone that happens to have sneezed at the wrong time.
I'm not sure if it is confined to the computer industry or if it is a fundamental aspect of human nature, wired in at the cellular level. How many times have you railed at the universe only to realise you were just a stupid jackass hoping that what you just did wasn't as catastrophic as it first seemed?
What prompted this? A number of things, but one that has caused a great deal of disharmony in the office here. One person works for weeks on a document, then at the last minute starts having problems. Not unusual, but in "helping out" I managed to do something completely stupid and irrevocable. I hit the wrong button. Without even thinking. I saw a save dialog and chose Save. Shit. Was I supposed to do that? Well, they were having trouble saving, so it was worth a try. Hang on, it didn't say the same directory. Oh bugger. Too late. Hope the changes were minor.
What do you mean I've just destroyed 2 weeks work? Panic sets in, thrashing around looking to see if there was a backup file. No backup file? Shit. Watching the face of someone I love crumble at the thought of 2 weeks effort gome up in a puff of electronic smoke. No time to be rational. Yell, scream. Blame them for not doing a backup, or leaving the room at a critical stage, anything that will change the facts. But the facts steadfastly refuse to change. Shit, that didn't go down well. Making a real arse of myself now.
I guess others have been in this situation. I hope it isn't just me. Why is it that we as humans have no ability to say, well I just fucked up. No buts. No ifs, no maybes. It always seems we need to share the blame around. I guess in most situations there is blame to be shared, nothing is ever contingent on a single act, but it never makes anything better by apporitioning blame.
On the other side of the coin we also don't seem to be able to accept a simple fuckup. 'Oh you "just fucked up", well that really solves it doesn't it? You're sorry? Too late, doesn't fix anything does it?' Life is depressing at times. We never seem able to get out of our own heads long enough to see the other side of the coin. It is always about us. Me. I. Now I've got to do all this work.
How about the next time you fuck up, just say so, and quietly retire until the other party calms down enough to be rational. Remember that no amount of soul searching or saying sorry or hand-wringing or railing at the universe is going to erase what you did.
How about the next time someone fucks up on you, you quietly retire and accept that they may not have realised the implications of what they've done, and no amount of hand-wringing or sharp words are going to revert things back to the way they were.
How about we all decide that we are all our own worst enemies and try and take steps to shield ourselves from ourselves. We could start by realising that systems fail, people get tired and do stupid things, and shit happens. Maybe not working insane hours and not putting impossible deadlines on ourselves might be a start. I don't know. I'm just one of the rats in the maze.
