Posted by The problem at many big companies is that being on a failed project is the kiss of death. And things are very political. Here is why.
I once said to an SVP at MBNA you know it is ridiculous how much an SVP makes and then how much the CEO makes. I mean the company was already there when you became one. Same for many professions.
He said Phil you don’t understand. How do you think we get all of those lower employees to work so hard? That includes me, I want to get promoted to President.
So you are right if you are a credit card company and you take out the ability for you to process credit cards that truly is a billion dollar screw up. You cannot make mistakes like you can when you have much less to lose, instead the cost of mistakes is immeasurable.
But why wouldn’t you come up with a device like Stripe to allow people to process cards?
Because you won’t get promoted if it fails.
Combine that with who goes to work for big companies? I mean many of these people have been on the conforming system for all their life. First you work hard in elementary to get into honors classes, then you work hard in High School to get into a good college, you get good grades so you can get a job with a prestigious firm then you bust your butt at your first job, then you go back and get an MBA, then you fit the part.