For all but a blessed few among us it is inevitable that, at some point during our working lives, the illusions we hold up for ourselves about what it is we do for a living fall away and we see reality. In my own case, I came to such a point this week. The “elevator speech” for my job is that I provide system and process expertise and help companies build successful Performance Management processes and systems. The reality, unfortunately, is that I am an enabler.
My role, for all practical purposes, is to find a way for companies to mangle a system in such a way that it is able to support a process that is both legally and logically indefensible. And I do this because I will otherwise not be paid. I do this because the reality is that if I do not enable this destructive choice, the company will find a different consultant who will. I do this out of a vain hope that I will be able to make the customer see the inconsistencies and legal risks before the company spends too much on development of a system that should not exist. Someday I will reach the point where I do this because I no longer care.
But the pay is good.