Also, a stitch in time may save your job

It's a few years ago, when smoking is still allowed at this aerospace company, and a construction project has temporarily moved this programmer pilot fish and his cohorts right next to a group of facilities people.

"This was so they could finish building out the programmers' area," says fish. "Many of the facilities people smoked, and this bothered one of the programmers, who kept complaining to his manager -- who said to keep escalating it."

After a week or so, the programmer's complaint has become an issue on the status report. From there it works its way up, week by week, to higher layers of management.

Naturally, at each layer the manager scrubs and sanitizes the status report, so there's only a limited flow of information getting to the director of software engineering. And week after week, there's no action on the programmer's complaint.

But week after week, the programmer keeps complaining to his manager -- until one day the director happens to be nearby.

Reports fish, "The manager was telling the programmer to keep writing this up as an issue, since 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease.'

"The director, not missing a beat as he walked by, said, 'Or replaced.'

"Luckily, the new area was completed that week, and all lived happily ever after."

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