Below is a nice little Graphic for Engineers (primarily new Engineers or Engineering Students as all other Engineers will already be living this reality and will not need a graphic).  All other people that work with Engineers can just enjoy the graphic and laugh at the engineers.  Note, its impossible to laugh with engineers without the engineers failing to get the joke, and engineering some device that mimics laughter, which can then be designed into a little gizmo or whiz bang to be mass produced by the Chinese and distributed to Sam’s Club for about $20.

Applied Process Management 101 - Shit Rolls Down Hill

As we all know, shit rolls downhill.  The following diagram illustrates exactly how this process takes place in a professional engineering company.

At the top of the hill is the Customer.  Generally, the Customer, in one way or another, generates the shit.

The shit first reaches the Project Director.  But the PD is very adept at smelling shit coming, and says, “I’m a PD, I don’t have to take this shit.” And so the shit rolls on by.

Now the shit reaches the Team Leader. It’s picking up some speed by now, and the TL gets splashed. “Phew, this shit stinks,” says the TL, “better pass it down.”

So the shit washes over the Project Manager, and he gets well dipped in shit. But by this time, the shit has a lot of momentum, and it keeps rolling down.

And so the shit lands on the Engineer.  The Engineer gets covered in it, and spends the entire project swimming in it.

Design is shielded from the shit by the Crest of Ignorance, which keeps shit from rolling down on them. This ensures that they remain shielded and the Engineer remains submerged.

Meanwhile, however, Design discovers more shit as they proceed with the project. Not sure what to do with it, they conceal it in the Cave of Unreported Requirements.

After a while, the cave gets filled with shit, and it starts to ferment. Then the Engineer begins to smell hidden shit, and wonders “Damn it, who’s been hiding shit?”

Eventually, the fermenting shit eats out the gap between the Engineer and the Cave of Unreported Requirements and all the shit flows through the cave and swamps Design who immediately cry out, “The bloody Engineer has dumped all his shit on us”

So, next time you’re the Engineer on a project, and you wonder why your whole life on the project seems like shit, and you seem to be getting blamed for all the shit, just refer to the diagram.