You see these photos sometimes, right? Guys surrounding a big celebrity, looking like absolute units. Always looking serious, scanning the crowd. It’s quite a sight, makes you think about what kind of life needs that level of watching over.
Funny thing is, it actually brought back memories of this project I worked on ages ago. Not quite the same thing, obviously, no physical threat or anything. But the feeling? The feeling of being constantly ‘guarded’ or having things ‘protected’ for no real reason? Yeah, that felt familiar.
That Old Project Vibe
We were working on this software update. Should have been straightforward. But the lead architect on that thing? Man. He treated every piece of code, every document, like it was made of solid gold and needed a security detail.
Getting access to anything was a mission:
- Need to see the previous version’s notes? Submit a request form. Wait for approval.
- Want to ask a question about a specific module? Schedule a meeting with his ‘gatekeeper’.
- Found a bug and wanted to check the original spec? Good luck finding who had the ‘master copy’ that week.
It wasn’t about real security. It felt like it was all about control. Making himself the center, the one guy you absolutely had to go through. Like his own little team of process bodyguards, protecting his importance, I guess.
The ridiculous part? Most of the stuff was pretty standard. Nothing revolutionary. We wasted so much time navigating these invisible barriers he put up. It slowed everything down. People got frustrated. Good ideas got lost because it was too much hassle to even bring them up.
I remember one afternoon, just needing a simple configuration file setting. Took me half a day chasing down three different people because the architect was ‘in meetings’ and had delegated ‘access control’ to someone who didn’t understand the system. Felt like trying to get past security just to ask what time it is.
So, yeah. Seeing those real-deal bodyguards around someone famous, I kinda get the need for them in that world. But it also gives me a little flashback to that project lead and his imaginary fortress. Sometimes, the ‘protection’ isn’t about safety, it’s just about someone needing to feel powerful. Weird stuff.
