Alright, so folks have been asking me what this “bull run road” thing I mentioned a while back was all about. It’s not some scenic drive, let me tell you. It was more like a mad dash, a sprint through a minefield, if I’m being honest. This all went down last year, what a time that was.

It all started with this new initiative at my old gig. Big ideas, big promises. You know the drill. They wanted to roll out this massive platform update, something that was supposed to “revolutionize” everything. On paper, looked ambitious but doable. We had a team, we had a vague plan. What could go wrong, right?
Well, “vague” was the operative word. Soon as we got started, it was like the starting gun fired for a race nobody told us the rules to. Suddenly, deadlines were crunched, features got piled on daily, and resources? Ha! We were practically running on fumes and sheer willpower. That’s what I call the “bull run” part – just charging ahead, hoping you don’t trip and fall flat on your face. Communication was a mess too. One department wouldn’t know what the other was doing. We’d build something, then get told, “Oh, no, that’s not what we wanted at all,” after weeks of work. Classic stuff.
I remember this one stretch, probably about three weeks, where I barely saw daylight. It was code, coffee, crisis, repeat. My diet consisted of stale donuts and whatever lukewarm coffee was left in the pot. My apartment started to feel like just a place I occasionally visited to change clothes. My significant other even started joking that my laptop was getting more attention than them. It wasn’t far from the truth, sadly. You try to push back, to say, “Hey, this is nuts,” but you’re just one voice, you know? And everyone’s scared of being the nail that sticks out.
We had folks using tools they barely knew, piecing things together with digital duct tape and prayers. One guy, bless his heart, was trying to integrate three ancient systems that were never meant to talk to each other. It was like watching someone try to teach a cat to swim – a lot of thrashing, not much progress. And the meetings! Endless. Meetings to plan meetings. Meetings to discuss why the last meeting didn’t solve anything. It was a masterclass in how to burn time and morale.
So, what happened at the end of this glorious “bull run road”? We launched. Late, over budget, and with a product that was, let’s say, “temperamental.” It worked, mostly. But the cost? A burnt-out team, a lot of frayed nerves, and a good chunk of folks started polishing their resumes right after. I myself stuck around for a bit longer, but that whole experience, man, it really opened my eyes. It showed me how easily a project can go off the rails when there’s more ambition than actual planning, more talk than support.

That “bull run road” taught me a lot, though. Mostly about resilience, I guess. And about the importance of saying “no,” or at least “hold on a minute.” It’s a road I wouldn’t want to travel again anytime soon, that’s for sure. But hey, every scar tells a story, right?