

Ask HN: What was your biggest fuckup of 2014? - 3stripe

As a counterpoint to all the &#x27;look what awesome stuff I did this year&#x27; articles...<p>What didn&#x27;t work out for you this year?
What would you do differently if you could?
======
davidy123
I was involved in a state department funded project. It was all around human
rights and security, so it had some real virtue, but on the other hand, people
in that sector are frequently nasty; apologetically rude well past the point
of being 'bluntly honest,' very full of themselves around their 'mission,'
even when other approaches, like outright commercial ones, work better, and in
this case tiresomely sexist and ultimately being and fulfilling a hierarchical
top-down world (not surprising given the funding source and eventual status in
the buddy network) while making all kinds of noise about being a progressive
organization.

After a few years working on the project I'd put in some good ideas that led
to $1M+ in funding (mostly grants) and lifted the company from hand to mouth
to a real thing. And in general I really helped to shape the organization in
positive ways. Unfortunately the person with the direct connection to funding
really didn't understand development, wanted me to be something I wasn't, and
really had poor people skills as evidenced by the trail of people he'd burned
over time. So early this year things got so heated that I left. I've been
around for a while and from experience might have left without burning
bridges, but while I wasn't rude, I made it very clear that I didn't
appreciate what was happening.

Eight months later it still bothers me, because I should have seen it coming,
and because I wasn't able to change it, nor did I find a way to turn it to my
advantage.

~~~
mackraken
<quote>Eight months later it still bothers me, because I should have seen it
coming, and because I wasn't able to change it, nor did I find a way to turn
it to my advantage.</quote> I'm dealing this due to a failed project (last
year was spent on it). I (and other team members) did see it coming though.
I'm still sad/mad that our higher ups didn't heed credible guidance.

~~~
davidy123
Well, more correctly, I did see it coming, but it was like seeing a train
wreck happening in slow motion and not being able to stop it. Everyone else on
the team found it a problem too, but they wouldn't really organize (or assert
themselves in general). But c'est la vie, there are other good opportunities.

------
3stripe
Well... I launched a sale on my online shop and forgot to enable stock
control.

Which results in my selling about 20 more t-shirts than I had available. Ouch.

I decided to be open about the mistake and the next day I manually sent an
email to everyone whose order couldn't be fulfilled to explain what had
happened.

The surprising thing was that everyone was cool about it. Honesty for the win
:)

~~~
forgottenpass
_The surprising thing was that everyone was cool about it. Honesty for the win
:)_

People generally respond well when treated like people. Some don't, which is
unfortunate. That's both a popular and silly reason for one (businesses,
people with a pulpit, etc) to treat people like unruly masses as a defense.

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anon-11235813
I ran out of runway for my startup, so I took a contract job as a PM in a
well-funded startup that has little or no traction.

Company is full of senior management-type guys who have their eyes on the big
payout, but because they're well-funded and don't know what they're doing,
they want to offshore everything. That's right: they're offshoring a new
product that they themselves do not grasp. The only specs are some existing
code they bought and whatever comes out of their mouth in a sales meeting.
This makes what would normally be just a clusterfuck turn into a royal, 5-star
clusterfuck.

I just saw them take 15 people and 3 months to do what 1 guy could do in 2
weeks. And they did it with 20-hour days, yelling, and all the other drama. If
it wasn't destroying people's lives like a meat grinder, it'd be a comedy.

Now I have to find a way to ditch these assholes before they ruin my life too.

------
Bahamut
My biggest mistake was not vetting companies enough when interviewing. Not
catching big warning signs and thinking naively that I can work 60+ hour weeks
for 1+ year with a significant amount dedicated to coding in tight deadlines -
while I made most deadlines fine (the one I failed was due to no planning
allocated to estimating the time to complete my team's work by product), it
has seriously burnt me out & I've had to reduce my work time to ~35 hours a
week (at least to no complaints)

I need to trust my instincts more & be more cautious with such big moves.

------
busterarm
Not planning for 2015. I didn't save money as I should have and now I'm
spending an indefinite amount of time (minimum 3 months) starting in March
with no income (due to attending a bootcamp). I didn't expect that I would be
doing this and now I'm trying to survive on nothing so that I can have some
breathing room for months while I'm learning and looking for a job.

It's some added stress that I don't need and I'm working as much overtime as I
can now when instead I should be spending my time studying/preparing for this
class.

And the apex seals in my RX-7's engine finally went and it needs a rebuild. :(
That's probably not going to get done till at least next year, but now I'm
regretting dumping so much money into this car.

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dublinclontarf
I focused on building an awesome product for my client and ended up doing free
work for them (on the assumption they'd get funding and be able to pay me).

Never happened, the client got an awesome product, some free work, and I had
no new work lined up afterwards.

Currently in the middle of a cashflow crisis.

~~~
busterarm
Sorry to hear that; that's a rough situation. I made a similar mistake in my
early 20s and didn't get paid on a $20k contract right after it. I couldn't
afford a lawyer to get myself paid. Those were hard times.

This seemed to happen a lot to designers but I've seen them start to take a
much more ruthless/professional approach to their business.

I know this doesn't help your situation right now, but this video is some
fantastic guidance going forward: "F __* You, Pay Me! "
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U)

~~~
dublinclontarf
I've watched this video, loved it.

Just to be clear here though, I said I wouldn't charge for that time, so it
was a mistake on MY part.

I did get a great example for my portfolio though.

~~~
busterarm
As long as you don't work on spec ever, we're cool. lol

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rip747
my marriage :(

I honestly don't know what more I could have done. You can give 1000% and keep
pushing forward, but if the other person isn't giving anything and keeps
putting you two steps back, there really isn't any hope in salvaging.

~~~
TrevorJ
That doesn't sound like something that was your fault. Sorry it didn't work
out man :/

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brickcap
I quit odesk this year. For a significant part of the year I was out of work.
In retrospect I could have made a smoother transition.

A couple of bad clients. Didn't listen to my gut feeling and worked with them.
Sucked up months of my time first in working for them and then getting them to
pay me. Lesson: upfront payment :) as a sign of good faith.

I think I did okay with friends and family which always a relief to know :)

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sberkun10
Here's a handy guide I wrote for how to learn from your mistakes:

[http://scottberkun.com/essays/44-how-to-learn-from-your-
mist...](http://scottberkun.com/essays/44-how-to-learn-from-your-mistakes/)

~~~
3stripe
Thanks Scott. I liked this line a lot "Don’t equate making mistakes with being
a mistake".

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GmeSalazar
I started smoking... Trying to stop now.

~~~
marvy
Good idea. All power to you.

