[hinkley]

This is practically a tenet for me now:

If you tolerate painful problems you are capable of fixing, you're a masochist. If you expect others to tolerate them, you're a sadist.

I often work with people who are more than happy to have someone fix problems. But I also work with people who don't just denigrate such work, but are obstructionist. You're expending energy to stop other people from making the system better. There's something deeply wrong with such people.

[darkwater]

> You're expending energy to stop other people from making the system better. There's something deeply wrong with such people.

One explanation is emotional attachment to a system/technology/solution/process they helped put in place. If someone wants to improve it by heavily modifying or God forbid getting rid of it, they will fight back because they feel personally attacked for it. It is wrong, but it happens a lot.

[rgblambda]

I don't know if it would help or not to mention that the existing system helped to get the company to where it is today, when delivering the "now is the time to get rid of this" pitch.

Acknowledging how long the existing system has been live would hopefully be a reminder that you're not trying to erase their achievement.

[darkwater]

It will help, but the receiving party has to be reasonable enough (or "emotionally mature" enough) to fully grasp it. It's usually not the case with people that go nuclear on these topics.

[hinkley]

I haven't quite had 'nuclear' but I know what you two are talking about. "But we would have gone out of business 3 years ago if that weren't written!"

Yes. Three years ago. And it's not three years ago.

[darkwater]

"What brought you here won't bring you there". As cheap psychology as it might sound, it's actually true most of the times.

[notpachet]

> You're expending energy to stop other people from making the system better. There's something deeply wrong with such people.

Lurking somewhere inside everyone is a sublimated death wish.