Page 96 - A Life - my Live - my path
P. 96

Computerization of the cyclotron



              As  for  the  project  itself,  the  problems  were  becoming
              increasingly  critical,  the  delays  were  accumulating
              alarmingly. Since I was the official project manager anyway,
              if  he  failed,  historically,  I  would  be  held  responsible.  So
              I couldn't sit idly by.
                 After  4  months,  without  reaction,  I  decided  to  send  a
              detailed note to the managing director, obviously copying
              the people involved: my head of department and the right-
              hand man of the managing director, in charge of monitoring
              the project. As soon as the secretary of our department had
              finished typing the note, she brought it to me to sign and
              asked me if I was sure I wanted to send it. My answer was
              unambiguous. She therefore placed it on my boss's desk and

              took  it  to  the  various  recipients  in  the  other  buildings.
              Reactions were almost immediate. My boss came directly to
              me and asked me: "Why did you send the note to the big
              boss?" I simply replied: "Because for 3 months I have been
              sending you notes and you have had no reaction".
                 In this note, I went through the history of the decision,
              the  warnings  that  I  had  given  and  the  existing  problems
              I have  highlighted,  while  setting  out  my  course  of  action:
              I was defending the interests of the IRE and the project was
              headed  for  disaster.  I  directly  questioned  his  right-hand
              man whom - of course - covered all the decisions that the
              managing director had remotely guided. I had also attached
              the copies of the 3 notes that I had sent the previous months
              to my boss.



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