Trifecta at Trimaran Solutions
Trifecta at Trimaran Solutions
In the progressive city of Amarula, nestled amidst towering skyscrapers and humming factories, there is a company named “Trimaran Solutions Inc.” that specializes in augmenting the body parts of humans. Its success was attributed to its cutting-edge products and efficient management practices that combine software and robotic prosthetics.
Emily Turner is a talented programmer who is passionate about her work, adept at coding, and has an uncanny ability to juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. She was happy doing her job even though she encountered a whirlwind of deadlines, meetings, and coffee-fueled coding sessions on a daily basis. The deadlines are from the system software that controls the prosthetics, which she does through coffee-fueled coding sessions.
Every quarter, there are new prosthetics developed by the Engineering Division, which needs custom software to ensure that the product functions seamlessly with a wide range of body structures. The meetings, on the other hand are more on planning and quality management. Emily has been sent to various Quality Management training because she has shown outstanding creativity, initiative, and logic to ensure that the next wave of products is widely accepted by customers. With this unique feat, Emily has almost always been invited to management committee meetings for the planning and development efforts of the company.
Because of these, Emily reported to not one, not two, but three bosses—each with their own priorities and expectations.
Emily’s bosses were an intriguing trio. First, there was Mr. Smith, the stern project manager. He emphasized efficiency, deadlines, and results. Next was Dr. Patel, the visionary CTO who is a member of the management committee. Dr. Patel championed innovation, creativity, and long-term strategy. Lastly, Ms. Rodriguez, the HR director, focused on employee well-being, work-life balance, and team dynamics. Emily's inbox overflowed with directives from this triumvirate, some coherent and some conflicting.
Emily should have specialized tasks. Instead, she juggled software development, planning, quality management, and coordinating with fellow employees every day. She was able to do this for many years until one instance, a customer sued the company for an injury caused by the prosthetics. The customer argued that the prosthetics did not function as intended and suspected a software glitch. This stressed Emily heavily. Her efficiency waned, and quality suffered.
Upon investigation, it was found that the malfunction was caused by the integration of an intended feature that was supposed to be implemented next year in the current line of products. The intended feature was identified through strategic planning. However, Emily got confused with the timeline and implemented it in the current set of products instead of the ones lined up for production the following year.
The directives were given through email and can be verified through the minutes of meetings.
Emily's frustration deepened when she realized that her salary was way below that of hiring two individuals separately for planning and coding. What's worse is that other developers, focused on singular tasks, earned more. She wondered if her versatility was a curse. Eventually, she quit, bringing a combined knowledge about the product, quality management, and planning.
Trifecta at Trimaran Solutions by Eric John Embrda is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
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