The story I'm about to tell you occurred several years ago. The reason I remembered is because recently, something similar happened which made me reflect on human nature. Our inability to learn from the errors of others makes us repeat the same old mistakes over and over, be it in our private, professional or political life. In this particular case, I'll describe a behavioural pattern that I've encountered numerous times in the software companies where I've worked. In all these years, nothing seems to have changed.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, a big company was suffering steadily declining revenues and, consequently, losing customer fidelity. Wanting to put an end to this problem they decided to improve client relations with a service heretofore unknown. Towards this end, the company's board sought the counsel of a group of wise men known as "The Council". The Council recommended the immediate implementation of an innovative software program that was producing great results all over the world and being hailed by those who used it. The council assured the company board that within six-seven months their fortunes would experience a turnaround. Encouraged by these forecasts, the company asked the Council to join them in this endeavour.

After six anxious months the client asked the Council to see this amazing piece of engineering. Instead, the Council of wise men became elusive and unwilling to heed the board's request. The board made reference to the fact that they were promised heaven but instead had only encountered hell. What at first seemed a simple enough task, turned out to be near impossible when analyzed in greater detail. But the wise men of the Council knew how to appease their benefactors assuring them that even if it took a few more months, they had the best resources available to them and would do everything in their power to lead the company to safe harbour.

Another four months passed before the wise men, with desolate and resigned look, met with their client. "What, pray tell, is happening?" asked the client nervously, fearing the worst of the worst. The wise men of the Council gestured and gesticulated in desperation and rage, and cursed the creator of the software that was supposed to lead them to the promised land but had, instead, left them smack in the middle of no man's land. Now that they had finally tamed the "beast", it consumed a lot of compute resources and no longer operated at speed. In its wake, it would spit out unintelligible messages. There was no other answer to this disastrous outcome than to start over and look for another solution, claimed the wise men.

The client received the wise men's news with incredulity. Was this really happening or was it just a bad dream? All their hopes for a prosperous and glorious future for which they struggled so valiantly, seemed to vanish before their very eyes; their effort had been for naught. At first the client said nothing; the board seemed petrified. They all appeared bug-eyed and unresponsive. Finally, the chief of the board reacted and spoke with lightning tongue and fire in his eyes. "The creator of this travesty will pay dearly for this trickery! Bring him to me!"

The following day, the creator of the software was brought before the chief together with three of his associates and asked that he be granted a period of three days to analyze the problem and devise a solution. The chief thought this was a waste of time and that the creator was just trying to delay the inevitable. If the wise men of the Council, with all their knowledge, experience and group of 20 consultants could not fix the problem over a period of 10 months, how could this group of 4 people hope to solve this mess in a period of three days? However, things being what they were and knowing it could not get any worse, the chief begrudgingly conceded. After all, they weren't going anywhere and he'd still have his revenge.

After three days, the creator and his group met with the board and made an amazing proposal. They offered to start over from scratch and develop everything just as the board first envisioned in less than 3 months. They further stated that if the board was not completely satisfied, the group of creators would compensate the company generously. However, the reverse was also true. If the board was pleased with the result, they would have to pay the creators a similar amount. The proposal seemed fair and the client accepted.

The small group rolled up their dukes and got to work. When they presented their solution after only 10 weeks, the client was more than a little surprised and quite pleased. They not only complied with what was stipulated, they even improved on the original specs. After a long silence, the chief spoke. "How is it that my best counsellors have failed miserably, and you, with much less effort and resources have succeeded?"

The leader of the creator's group replied, "There's only one thing for which you can blame your counsellors: ignorance. They did everything they could and in so doing converted a docile creature ready to serve you into a wild and unmanageable beast. Instead of getting to know the solution in depth, they forced the animal to do things out of its nature. It's no wonder it bit the hand that fed him."

Back to the present...These types of cases happen on a daily basis and some even manage to create great media fanfare. But it appears little has changed since the dark days of software consultancy - we continue making the same mistakes. Although there is greater interest, companies are not entirely conscious of the importance of establishing a relationship with professional software consultants. When a major software deployment is in the works, it is imperative that the developer be part of the team, not only because of the first hand knowledge and experience they can contribute to the project but also because they have direct access to experts knowledgeable in other aspects of software development and implementation.

The moral: If you want to be the king, don't be the jester's apprentice.