That Time I Felt Like I Ran Someone Over (Not Literally!)
Okay, so the phrase “running over someone” sounds intense, right? Don’t worry, no cars or actual people were involved. But I had this moment, years ago, at an old job, where the feeling afterwards was kinda like that – like I’d just barreled through something, or someone, without enough care.
We were working on this big project launch. Super tight deadline, stress was high, you know the drill. I was leading a small part of it, and my focus was just laser-sharp on hitting that date. Get it done, get it done, get it done – that was my mantra.
There was this one guy, let’s call him Dave. Nice enough dude, but very meticulous. He was responsible for a component that fed into my part. He kept raising concerns about testing, wanting more time to double-check things. Honestly, at the time, I just saw it as him slowing us down. I felt the pressure from my boss, and I just needed Dave’s piece now.
So, what did I do? I found a workaround. I basically bypassed the need for his final sign-off by using an older, already-approved version of his component which I thought was good enough. I figured I’d deal with the fallout later, if any. I just charged ahead. I completely ignored his warnings and his process because I was fixated on my deadline.
We launched. And initially, everything seemed fine. Phew, right? Wrong.
A couple of days later, weird bugs started popping up. Users were complaining about specific functions acting strangely. It took a bit of digging, but guess what? The issues traced right back to the component I’d used the older version of. The very things Dave had warned about, the edge cases he wanted to test for, they were happening. His meticulousness wasn’t him being slow; it was him being thorough.
I remember sitting in a meeting where this was all unraveled. Dave didn’t even say “I told you so,” he just looked kinda resigned. But I felt awful. It hit me then – in my rush, I hadn’t just bypassed a process, I’d completely disregarded a colleague’s expertise and concerns. I basically ran right over him and his work because I was impatient and stressed.
It created a bit of a mess, obviously. We had to roll back parts of the launch, fix the bugs properly (which involved Dave, who thankfully was professional about it), and it cost us time and credibility. More importantly, it damaged my working relationship with Dave for a while.
- I learned a hard lesson that day.
- Being fast isn’t always the same as being effective.
- Listening to the team, especially when they raise red flags, is crucial.
It took effort to rebuild that trust. I made sure to apologize, not just for the outcome, but for how I’d handled it, for ignoring his valid points. Since then, I really try to consciously slow down, listen more, and remember that sometimes the meticulous guy raising concerns isn’t an obstacle; he’s trying to prevent a crash. It’s a different kind of “running someone over,” but the impact can still be pretty damaging if you’re not careful.
