Every single instance of "being prepared" has to go past an accountant who has to make the math, math for the next 90 days. The conversation will go something like this.
Engineer at electric company: "We'd like to get this project on the calendar for the quarter; should make the equipment more resilient against the risk of solar storms."
Accountant at electric company: "What are the odds this solar storm happens in the next quarter?"
Engineer: "We cannot accurately predict the timing of a solar storm; however, as time goes on, the probability of a solar storm causing damage to our equipment gets closer to 1."
Accountant: "That's not enough certainty when compared to the necessity of profitability." scratches grid hardening off priority list
Now, "prepared" means "society not collapsing", and "profitability" means that a retired couple can buy a timeshare on a golf course in Florida where they can swing until the dementia sets in, but priorities are priorities.
The accountants are given the receipts after the engineers have already spent company money, and their job is to account for that spending.
The finance department are the people who decide whether the engineers get to spend the money. (They're also known as the FP&A team = financial planning and analysis.)
I thought the engineers turned in the receipts in hopes of being reimbursed for the critical purchase that the accountants then get to decide if it meets their definition of critical.
Don't blame the accountants for enforcing your company's expense policy. That's set by management.
If I had a dollar for every time a programmer claimed something was "critical" but was actually just an expense for something they were doing to pad their resume for their next job, I would be as rich as Warren Buffet.
Didn't we agree to stop using logic around here? This is a place for irrational berating of $evilTopic.
Edit to match parent's edit: I like how you turned it from a hardware engineering discussion with large and expensive equipment necessary to some flippant software comment. If I had a dollar for every time someone derails a conversation, I'd be Bezos rich
> Engineer: "We cannot accurately predict the timing of a solar storm; however, as time goes on, the probability of a solar storm causing damage to our equipment gets closer to 1."
Engineer: "We cannot accurately predict the timing of a solar storm; however, over a long enough timeframe, the probability of a solar storm causing damage to our equipment is close to 1."
Engineer at electric company: "We'd like to get this project on the calendar for the quarter; should make the equipment more resilient against the risk of solar storms."
Accountant at electric company: "What are the odds this solar storm happens in the next quarter?"
Engineer: "We cannot accurately predict the timing of a solar storm; however, as time goes on, the probability of a solar storm causing damage to our equipment gets closer to 1."
Accountant: "That's not enough certainty when compared to the necessity of profitability." scratches grid hardening off priority list
Now, "prepared" means "society not collapsing", and "profitability" means that a retired couple can buy a timeshare on a golf course in Florida where they can swing until the dementia sets in, but priorities are priorities.