Page 76 of Take It Offline
“So you’re interested in the bot, huh?” he asks. “Our team calls him Benedict. Kind of an inside joke. But I can set something up for you. No problems.”
He says it like it’s a favor. Bro to bro.No problems.
Seems like there were plenty of problems a few seconds ago, when Emma was the one asking.
“Yeah, sounds great, thanks.”
I’ll smile and play nice for now, because if Emma’s right about this thing, it’ll save me hours of work. But I’ve got a long memory and a shit list, and Landon just shot up to the top ten.
We finally nail down a spot in Baxter’s calendar. After the fourth decline, I made a personal visit to Kamile to sell her on the changes. It was clear by then that the only way we’d make this happen was with her help. It only took an hour after that for him to accept.
Now we’re facing our first uphill battle.
Emma wanted more time. The Engineering VP is notoriously stubborn, and getting an early win under our belt would make facing him a little easier, but I know people, especially the ones working under him, and once Baxter champions the cause, good luck going against him.
We get him? We’ve already won.
The hard part is selling him on it.
“You’re proposing we remove critical engineering information from the Standard.”
Beside me, Emma’s knee is jumping under the table.
“I’m proposing that engineering information be housed in an engineering-specific document, one that sits underneath and is referenced by the standard but that isn’t muddied with rules for Corporate documentation.”
He leans back, crosses his arms. This is a man not easily persuaded. “By removing it.”
Emma’s expression might as well be cast in bronze. It gives nothing away. “Yes.”
Once upon a time, I thought her cold, as unchanging as Baxter here. In reality, she’s full of warmth. Burning with it. The ice queen act is just that. A defense. And I can’t blame her for it. When she’s being challenged at every step, why wouldn’t she learn to give nothing away?
The fact that she lets herself be vulnerable with me is a miracle.
He checks his watch, and we’re running out of time to convince him. “I fail to understand why Digital wants to create more procedural documents when we already have too many, and no one can understand half of them anyway. In addition, it sounds as though this new document will be so void of actual detail that it’s largely useless.”
Kamile and I share a weary look. He means well, but damn, can he be an ass about it.
“The new standard will set a precedent definition of the levels of information that are stored across the organization, regardless of source. What it will do is ensure all the relevant engineering information is in one place, without the noise of rules that only apply to Projects or Corporate.”
Baxter leans forward, elbows on the table. The blue jeans and Helix branded polo he’s wearing are no match for his serious tone. “Why can’t we merge it all and keep it in separate sections?”
“We could,” I say, because even though Emma looks calm, she hasn’t taken a breath in the last twenty seconds. “But then the standard would be a hundred pages long and need to be updated with every new capital project. What happens when you need to review the contractor deliverable codes? I know for a fact that list is updated regularly, but a standard that includes Corporate rules would need to be reviewed by every major function head, and by the time it’s accepted, a new change would be ready.”
As expected, he hates that idea.
“Alternatively,” Emma starts, her calm voice clashing with the head tilt of doom. “We follow my original suggestion.”
Kamile’s eyes dance, but she hides her smile well.
“Another benefit to that solution,” Emma adds, “would be a single engineering-focused procedure that can spell out contractor requirements so clearly there’s no room for misinterpretation. You’d be able to mandate delivery according to each contract and track which version of the procedure a vendor is subject to.”
Is it too early to pledge fealty?
Damn.
“It’s a good solution,” Kamile agrees. “One of our longest-standing hurdles has been fighting with Projects when they want to deviate from the process. I’m assuming this change willrequire them to establish their own internal procedure if they go that way.”
It’s a question I answered for her last week, and it’s clear her butt-in is the last nail we need. “One that requires Ops and Engineering approval, yes.”
