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Hi! It looks like you're working on a marketing strategy for a product nowhere near release! Would you like help?

Engineer reveals departmental porkies, gets told never to leave his desk again

Who, Me? Monday has once again reared its head, and with that we welcome you back to Who, Me?, El Reg's weekly column where techies tell us about incidents from days of yore.

Today we meet "Ian", who wrote in about a time his helpful advice was not quite as helpful as he'd thought it might be. At least not to the top brass.

Ian, an engineer, described himself as "naturally curious" and could often be found walking the floors of his office.

"I used to wander around the office thinking and talking to people to give myself a break away from the screen," said Ian.

Usually, this involved speaking to them about what they were working on. He'd help if he could, and think about whether their issues affected his own work.

But one day his neighbourly behaviour got him in a spot of bother as he offered a bit too much information to someone he shouldn't have.

"I happened to be in the marketing department, talking to one of the marketing bods, when I noticed the product roadmap he was working on was wrong," said Ian.

The product, Ian realised, wouldn't be ready for sale for at least another year.

And so he said this to the marketing chap – before getting a stony glare and an awkward conversation with the head of marketing.

"Later on that day I was summoned by the engineering director and forbidden from talking to all the other departments," Ian said.

Apparently, the engineering department had been keeping marketing in the dark about the product roadmap – until now.

To make matters worse, the marketing department was rather invested in this product by that point.

"They had just spent over half their budget on a campaign for a product they were expecting to be ready for sale in the next few weeks," Ian said.

He told us he was "very happy" to be made redundant not long after this.

Have you ever leaked important company information, whether by accident or design?

Tell Who, Me? what happened in all the excruciating detail you can face, and your tale may feature on these pages next time. ®

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