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This is a question Failed Projects

You start off with the best of intentions, but through raging incompetence, ineptitude or the plain fact that you're working in IT, things go terribly wrong and there's hell to pay. Tell us about the epic failures that have brought big ideas to their knees. Or just blame someone else.

(, Thu 3 Dec 2009, 14:19)
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Okay so some years ago me and a couple of friends
Had a massive project on the go. There was a massive risk of industrial sabotage, we were told, so we couldn't discuss the scheme with anyone. In fact the project was so secret that the plans were kept under lock and key most of the time and only available in parts and only to those who needed to see the relevant section.

My friends and I were close to completing our part of the project and couldn't satisfactorily work out how to fix a cooling problem. Basically the system would overheat horrendously when in heavy use and there was no way of venting out the excess heat so we came up with a compromise and added a small venting port to the plans which was subsequently approved by the planning team and went in as part of the design.

When the project finally went live it was a roaring success and during a trial run it performed better than anyone expected. We all celebrated in the local and toasted our collective success. The head of the project was more than happy and treated us all to a slap up meal at his own expense and told us what a great job we had all done.

Sadly it all went downhill after this point. Apparently someone in the marketing department got a bit loose with his tongue when slightly inebriated and told someone he shouldn't have about this fantastic new project. Our office systems were compromised in, what was described as a 'sustained hacking attack' and the blueprints were stolen.

It turns out that our venting solution was just big enough to fire a torpedo down which took out the main reactor core and the whole station went belly up. We weren't involved in any more projects after that.
(, Thu 10 Dec 2009, 8:08, 2 replies)
Saw that one a mile off...
Almost seemed like a Pearoast?
(, Thu 10 Dec 2009, 8:30, closed)

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