Letter from the CEO
The Façade of Perception is Everything!
By Robert L. Pritchett
Let me be the first to say, I have been blessed immensely by
living in this country and I personally believe the Pledge of Allegiance was
divinely inspired.
“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for
all.”
http://www.homeofheroes.com/hallofheroes/1st_floor/flag/1bfc_pledge.html
I also believe in the power of the press.
Working for “The Government”
In a recent job I held, my first visit from the manager was
iffy at best and a danger sign at worst. He said if he had had a choice, I
would not have been hired, but the government customer requested me. (Job
interview: “Still interested? Your hired.”) I survived the 90-day probation
period, but the company was an “at-will” employer and could remove me at any time
for any reason, real or imagined.
Apparently, some customers within the government didn’t
appreciate my “can-do, git-er-done ” attitude and I must have been a “present
danger” to them (their career-long project was being completed, before they
could retire), so they had me removed after 6 months of service. That is my
reality.
I can safely say that at the moment, I am no longer working
for or under the Executive Branch of the Corporation of the United States. The
people I personally worked with were top notch and I think that they have been
doing an excellent job for the taxpayer. I hope they survive. (One other person
was already being replaced before I was exited.)
I don’t play politics or perceptions very well, if at all. I get in, get the job done and get out. That was why the
government customer asked that I be brought on board. They knew me and my
reputation. I did not take the strong-armed safety hint (as presented by the
incumbent IT contractor to our team) that if there was any danger, real or
imagined, to “stop work, stop work, stop work”. Installing newer, faster computer systems and getting them
networked at 10 times the existing speed, really was anathema to that mindset.
I also took it upon myself to shoulder any responsibility for any hiccups and
problems as they inevitably arose. I apologized as needed. I was not there to
“save face”, but to get the job done. Obviously, that was not appreciated in a “cover your lower backside at
all costs” environment.
The process that would normally take one day to a week in
private enterprise (replacing a bunch of desktop and portable computers), had
already taken close to 3 years (on again, off again, etc. with layers upon
layers of various entity involvements per workstation location) and the current
install schedule was being spread across two years further into the future.
(Some computers had been sitting unused in original shipping boxes for 2 years already.)
Parts of the network were operating (intentionally) at 10 Mbps throughput. I
was able to show through (approved) skunkworks activities that with a
relatively simple cable change, we could obtain 1 Gbps throughput at every
workstation location. The network cards and switches were designed to operate
at those speeds, so why not take advantage of them? However, that was above and
beyond the negotiated contract. It was icing on the cake, so to speak. And it
was an incentive to the customer to move forward, especially for those who had
systems that were around 8 years old and with network printers installed from
the early 1990’s that needed to be replaced (not being done by the incumbent IT
contractor).
We also had to “share” the site with the incumbent IT
contractor and they had a vested interest in seeing that we failed. So we knew
we were stepping into a buzz saw from the get-go. Things happened, but we could
not “prove” we were being sabotaged and we didn’t point fingers. We just
laughed it off and corrected the problems as they arose and moved on.
When I was personally verbally attacked
by an employee of the incumbent IT contractor (with whom I had worked with
side-by-side years before), I was told not to worry and to let it go. I did.
However, remember that I had a manager who had a vested interest in letting me
fall on my own sword.
Perception is everything is government. Perception plays a
vital role in that environment (trust us, we are here to help [– at the
cost of your liberty and freedom]). I think that we as taxpayers need to begin
holding government’s feet to the fire and stop letting them get away with use
and abuse of our tax money. They perceive they are important to our well-being
and it would seem that they have over-inflated egos that match their
over-inflated paychecks. They seem to have forgotten for whom they work for – and it is not the
POTUS. They have gotten way too comfortable in their government-bankrupt jobs.
Anyway, that is my perception of the situation.
As of this past May, there were more people pulling
paychecks as government employees then there were from people who were working
for private enterprise (not including contractors working for government, of
which I was one). That is not sustainable. That is not perception. That is reality. When that house of cards falls, don’t
get caught in the downdraft. I certainly do not intent to.
Sincerely,
Robert-Leigh: Pritchett
Constitutionalist and Defender of the Constitutional
Republic
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