It is a funny sight when tech-illiterate CEOs attempt to build tech companies. They thump the beat by appending or prepending buzzwords in their elevator pitch. But any developer worth their salt will be able to catch their bluff.

LandX underwent a certain audit for compliance today, but the result was not good. We have been preparing for this audit for months, and yet I cannot have us pass the audit even though I am in charge of the product. The product is in shambles because of a mistake trailing back a few months ago -- when the company decided to cut the development team by 70%.

Squeezing two babies out in 4.5 months.

Ignoring the fact that the audit requirements were handled poorly and fuzzily, the product team was required to achieve what is equivalent to a complete rewrite in three months. With the development team cut by 70%, this feat is the equivalent of squeezing out two babies in half a term. In other words, impossible.

Impossible is never something you utter to a CEO, so I said I will do my best. (In case you do not know, I moonlight as a Product Lead on LandX) My best meant that we had to do just enough to show that the requirements were met on a superficial level and nothing more.

Long story short, it did not work.

Too little, too late

After today, the CEO decided that we should hire a senior developer and maybe more. I am now given the budget to hire who I wanted to hire three months ago. Unfortunately, this decision today will not see any changes made to the company for another four months. The damage has been done.

CEOs are framed by the decisions they make. Poor decisions kill companies. The ramifications of the previous poor decision have finally taken root after three months. For now, we get live another day and I will remedy this mistake.