On: I wrote the SQL query in 5 mins. Why does my engineer say it will take a month?

[coolgeek]

> though I might have got into trouble with the Change Prevention Board for not using the right form or something...

The "or something" and "which I ignored" aren't making you look like the reasonable actor in these interactions

[brokenmachine → coolgeek]

Sounds reasonable to me to save the company £70K. But I'm not a manager, so what would I know.

I doubt it was a mission-critical single static html page.

edit: £70K plus the cost of installation/hardware support/etc/etc.

[coolgeek → brokenmachine]

The poster

  - "ignored ... a carefully worked out explanation"
  - doesn't (or doesn't care enough to) understand the company's established processes ("...or something")

Given that s/he thus didn't (couldn't) relate these in his/her telling of the story, there's at least the possibility that what's missing is less flattering or even completely contradictory to their telling.

Just as we can all point to examples of process absurdity, we can all point to examples of

  - failures because process didn't exist
  - companies with good process

At the very least, from an objective standpoint, the poster's telling of the story reflects poorly on them

[brokenmachine → coolgeek]

I guess I'm not objective then because the only fact I need is "£70K to host a single static webpage on an internal network".

£70K to host one static webpage is not a good process or "carefully worked out explanation" any way you cut it.