What Does Management Do?

What does management do when all the chips are on the table and the big deadline is approaching, like in the last few moments of a big game, with time ticking away and strategy is most important, when the right decision will win or lose the game?

What does management do when everything they've done so far amounts to nothing, when the various supervisors and consultants have come and gone in disgrace, each with a different style to motivate the workers (the people who actually do the work)?

What does management do to validate itself so that it can take credit for the project or, if the project fails, walk away in the end and take no responsibility at all?

What does management do? They send in a ringer.

The ringer is a supernatural creature--pure of heart, kind, sincere, earnest and lovable, the distilled essence of an inner child, a token from management that says please, please, get this job done on time, a sweet baby that must be fed and nurtured for the sake of the company (and don't forget the stockholders).

No more insults from snotty supervisors, no more smart-ass young consultants, no more threats at all. Now we have the ringer.

Yes, our ringer's name is Justice and she is here to make sure that the project ends on time or else, it seems, she may get sacrificed and thrown into a volcano or suffer some other tragedy--it's all in our hands now. We will do the job, because we love her.

Also, I've gathered up the remaining tile to see if I ordered too much. More later...