This is a true story, currently unfolding. (Thankfully, not where I work.)

My friend “Paul” works at a large international company in a small developer team that builds web applications. The technology stack is J2EE, including Spring and Hibernate in the mix.

Unfortunately, except for Paul and a coworker, most of the team is underskilled for the complexity of this programming environment. Their manager, for all his talk about building software for two decades, doesn’t even know basic HTML. This manager is also a destructive optimist in the fullest sense.

It comes as no surprise that their current project is a mess and is missing important deadlines. The boat is swamped and they’re taking on water, so to speak.  The manager - rightfully so - has started to panic.

A common mistake that many managers make in this situation is to start adding people to the project at the eleventh hour. If one woman can make a baby in 9 months, then it makes perfect sense that adding eight more women will get it done in 1 month. Right?

The manager didn’t do this. No, to expand the metaphor, he added men. He put 5 Visual Basic developers on the J2EE+Spring+Hibernate project, just two weeks before the deadline. He says he’ll teach them everything they need to know to get it done in the next two weeks.

Sometimes the main purpose of one’s life is to serve as a warning for others.