标签: Roger

I don’t know about you, but I receive a staggering number of unsolicited telemarketer calls these days. First of all we have the charities (both real and dubious) -- I get at least two calls a day from folks like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the Special Olympics, the Fraternal Order of Police, various Veterans Associations, and the list goes on and on and on.   When I first came to America, I happily tried to support everything, but (a) the number of calls kept increasing and (b) I discovered that some of these so-called charities were not what they seemed. Now I tell them that I don’t do anything over the phone, and that instead I contribute directly to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and to my local Downtown Rescue Mission.   Sad to relate, this doesn’t deter them. Thinking I still own my own business, they always start with the "Super-Duper Package" of ~$1,100, which always makes my eyes water. When I tell them "sorry," they gradually work their way down to the "You're a Weenie Package" of $25 and ask that I make an exception in their case. They only give up after I point out that all the other callers say exactly the same thing; also, that if I contributed $25 twice each working day, and assuming 4 weeks = 20 working days a month, I'd be donating $1,000 a month.   The end of the call leaves both of us feeling unsatisfied and me feeling guilty. Furthermore, in addition to the time I spend on the phone, my productivity drops for some time after the call because I'm still mulling things over in my mind.   And that's just the charities. I can't tell you how many calls I get from my "Local Google Specialist" (there seem to be a lot of them around). And then there are the companies who want to update my ability to accept credit and debit cards.   My son, Joseph, collects coins. A few years ago for Christmas, I bought him a couple of silver dollars that were minted way back in the mists of time when America was still a young country. Somehow this resulted in my being added to some "potential investor" list, which was subsequently sold to goodness knows how many companies. I can't tell you how many calls I get with offers to invest in anything from stamps to oil wells.   Arrgggh!   So you can only imagine my delight to discover the Jolly Roger Telephone Company (this started in America, but they now have numbers in the UK and Australia). When you receive a telemarketing call you wish to shine on, you simply conference in Jolly Roger -- 214-666-4321 in the USA -- and then put yourself on mute and let the Jolly Roger automaton converse with the telemarketer (human or robot). Take a listen to this example of the Jolly Roger robot talking to an annoying "Google Specialist."   If you visit YouTube and perform a search for Jolly Roger , you will be presented with a load of similar conversations. Good Grief! While I was typing this sentence, I just received another call asking "Can I speak to the owner of the business please?"   All I can say is that I love Roger like the brother I never had (of course I do have a brother, Andrew, and I love him dearly -- I love Roger like the brother I don't have). How about you? Do you think you might be tempted avail yourself of this free Jolly Roger service?

I believe in absolute honesty in an engineering environment. Difficult truths become much harder if left unspoken, and it's impossible to hide from reality. An example is scheduling: in fact, the IEEE code of ethics says, among other things, that we promise to be accurate in our estimates. Even though the boss might not want to face the truth. Les Chambers wrote a fascinating account of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill which places at least some of the blame on one manager who was unwilling to step in and accept the unpleasant truths. Sound familiar? Do you remember Roger Boisjoly? Mr. Boisjoly was the Morton-Thiokol engineer who warned that it was a bad idea to launch the space shuttle Challenger on a cold January day. He had the guts to stand up for what he believed. Management, under sharp pressure from NASA, overruled his objections and gave the approval to launch. Though vindicated, unfortunately, the company pulled him off space work and he was turned into a pariah. Doing the right thing is not always rewarded. This was not a one-time bit of heroics; he had issued a memo the previous year highlighting the problem. Unfortunately, Mr. Boisjoly passed away in January, 2012, and an entire generation has come into its own since that awful day in 1986. Many younger engineers have never heard of him. In his article, Les Chambers goes on to describe a situation he found himself in, where management was demanding he abandon his strongly-held position about the safety of a device. Mr. Chambers refers to " speaking truth to power, " which is an old Quaker call to the bravery required when one has to say the unpleasant to powerful opponents. To quote his article: " This was a blatant violation of everything we knew to be professional, honest and right. But how? How can you buck the momentum of a massive project proceeding inexorably to delivery. How can you do what you know is right in the face of massive cost/time pressure and political will? How can one be a righteous person in a unjust world? " He goes on to cite Albert Hirschman, an MIT "social scientist" who gives three options to people finding themselves in these sorts of uncomfortable positions (again, quoting the article): 1. Loyalty. Remain a loyal "team player" (shut up and do what you're told) 2. Voice. Try to change the policy (speak truth to power) 3. Exit. Tender a principled resignation (quit). The article explores each of these options in some detail. In engineering we're sometimes called on to make ethical decisions, and I highly recommend Mr. Chambers' article to help refine your thinking when caught in such a position.