The "risk mitigation" complex
- Thread starter Xcaliber
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FL350
Well-Known Member
All of this is so true! I agree with the leadership and being on time complex. My father was a pilot and he has to correct everything I do, so I know how challenging it is for others when I do the same thing. Also I always plan things to happen at a certain time and work a certain way, and have a contingency plan.. sometimes the girlfriend likes this other times it's a bad thing because it is not "we time". It's tough to take yourself out of pilot mode sometimes
drunkenbeagle
Gang Member
If you think that pilots are bad about this, spend some time around engineers. The most important part of the job is telling people why something either won't work, or will add enough risk that it doesn't outweigh the potential cost savings.
killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
Sales Engineers are even more insipid this way because we're so damned trustworthy.
Sales Engineers are even more insipid this way because we're so damned trustworthy.
I already told you: I deal with the god damn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?
killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
The current title en vogue for us is "Solution Architect."
I saw this on a t-shirt, but it about sums up the job:
"We do precision guess work based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge."
drunkenbeagle
Gang Member
Sales Engineers are even more insipid this way because we're so damned trustworthy.
Sales Engineers are rarely the ones pushing for a solution that won't work well. Ultimately, the customer will just end up buying from someone else, or complaining enough that the margin on the deal goes down enough to make it not worth it.
Tend to see it more being middle managers on the customer side that will push for something that looks cheaper on the surface, without looking at all of the costs or complexity. They are almost always the ones that won't do a PoC or prototype first, in order to save money.
drunkenbeagle
Gang Member
The more impressive the title, the less they generally know what they are talking about. Which usually involves "Leveraging practices in their wheelhouse, challenging your thinking, and rightshoring the as-is to-be."
killbilly
Vocals, Lyrics, Triangle, Washboard, Kittens
Heh. No. That's the title they gave ME.
I'm a career sales engineer. They just call me a solution architect now.
Whatever. I just keep account reps from lying to customers. Or I try to.
pilot4500
IT Architect/ Former Cirrus Charter Pilot
For me, I find it hard to take myself out of "pilot mode" when it comes to driving. My wife loves to run the gas tank down to empty, and that just about drives me to insanity. Lord knows you would never intentionally do that in an airplane.. I keep thinking about what if the nearest gas station is closed for some reason and you don't have enough gas to get to the next one. I also think about what would I do if a road is closed and I need to take an alternate route? Do I have sufficient fuel to do that? How would I proceed to that alternate route? If my engine quits and I need to pull over, where can I do that? Once you are a pilot, you get used to thinking a certain way. You are always prepared for the worst. I guess a decade of flying and 6,300 hours will do that to you.
ChasenSFO
hen teaser
I'll be real with you here.
Personally, I am like that myself, always aware of what COULD happen. But once I run a scenario through my head, if the conclusion is not, "There is a REALISTIC/OVERWHELMING probability of (going to jail/getting injured/being absolutely screwed)", then I just don't worry about it, relax, and have fun. Life's too short. You'll be fine in the end, just live it. Use that same "risk mitigation" skillset to have fun. Think about it. For all the "Oh dear god. What IF this happens right now, this remote possibility that could END LIFE AS WE KNOW IT", think "Ok, let's be real, is the probability that this is going to kill me/get me fired/get me arrested? Any higher than me dying in my sleep tonight? No? Ok then let's go". We're not talking flying jets, we're talking living life and being a normal person. And we're all normal, that is just the thing. We're people. It doesn't matter what you do for a living, where you live, what your name is, or who your friends are. To everyone else you're a stranger on the street who they pay no mind anymore than you would them. Just because we pilots, being God's gift to man, may have thought about a negative outcome and Regular Joe Dumbass next to us hasn't does not mean that we are more likely to get hurt/killed/arrested than Joe because we had the super human ability to think about what could happen and the "normal" person didn't.
I could press my genitals against the glass of the control tower and shake what my mama gave me at the world below. Is there a chance someone will see me? There is a chance. But what is the probability? With everything there is to look at in this big world, the window pane I'm in way up in the tower? Very low. Probability they're recording? Lower. Probability that said video is so focused on me at high resolution that I won't win the game of "They said I did WHAT? You waste my time with this filth? How dare you, take your accusations and leave them in the gutter with your mind"? Minuscule, at best. Conclusion: Rock out with your...that.
Of course, if I were to, hypothetically of course, do this routinely, the probability of it catching up to me increases tenfold over time. But that is what risk-mitigation is right? Knowing just how much you can(safely) get away with, mastering it, and not ever digging the hole deeper than you can climb out of if it all were to blow up in your face. Or is it to just avoid all situations that could possibly lead to new and difficult situations and live a routine and safe life? That's up to you to decide. There is no right or wrong answer, but if you pick one and the other seems more appealing, then maybe it is time to re-evaluate things.
I'm not saying to just go and be an ass(which you can totally say on here), this is me using humor to teach a real lesson. Just. Be. A person. Whatever person you want to be. If you want to be Negative Nancy, be negative Nancy. But when people don't want to be around you, accept it. Sometimes for the sake of interpersonal relations, and just not being a wiener in general, you need to learn to just put your fate in the hands of the universe and know you'll be OK in the end. Just like you do every time your aircraft leaves the ground and you know a bomb could blow you out of the sky and you'd never see it coming. It could. But it won't. So just do it.
I feel like the majority of people who ask questions like this(no knock on the OP or any of you) are actually quite content with who they are and have no plans to think or live differently. That's fine. But, what are we talking about at that point? What people think about you, because they can't put themselves in your shoes, so they judge you, and these intangible thoughts that pass as judgement deep in the empty caves of their inner thought manifest themselves and affect our thoughts and actions how, exactly?
Good advice I once got from a famous person. "What other people say about you is none of your business".
Personally, I am like that myself, always aware of what COULD happen. But once I run a scenario through my head, if the conclusion is not, "There is a REALISTIC/OVERWHELMING probability of (going to jail/getting injured/being absolutely screwed)", then I just don't worry about it, relax, and have fun. Life's too short. You'll be fine in the end, just live it. Use that same "risk mitigation" skillset to have fun. Think about it. For all the "Oh dear god. What IF this happens right now, this remote possibility that could END LIFE AS WE KNOW IT", think "Ok, let's be real, is the probability that this is going to kill me/get me fired/get me arrested? Any higher than me dying in my sleep tonight? No? Ok then let's go". We're not talking flying jets, we're talking living life and being a normal person. And we're all normal, that is just the thing. We're people. It doesn't matter what you do for a living, where you live, what your name is, or who your friends are. To everyone else you're a stranger on the street who they pay no mind anymore than you would them. Just because we pilots, being God's gift to man, may have thought about a negative outcome and Regular Joe Dumbass next to us hasn't does not mean that we are more likely to get hurt/killed/arrested than Joe because we had the super human ability to think about what could happen and the "normal" person didn't.
I could press my genitals against the glass of the control tower and shake what my mama gave me at the world below. Is there a chance someone will see me? There is a chance. But what is the probability? With everything there is to look at in this big world, the window pane I'm in way up in the tower? Very low. Probability they're recording? Lower. Probability that said video is so focused on me at high resolution that I won't win the game of "They said I did WHAT? You waste my time with this filth? How dare you, take your accusations and leave them in the gutter with your mind"? Minuscule, at best. Conclusion: Rock out with your...that.
Of course, if I were to, hypothetically of course, do this routinely, the probability of it catching up to me increases tenfold over time. But that is what risk-mitigation is right? Knowing just how much you can(safely) get away with, mastering it, and not ever digging the hole deeper than you can climb out of if it all were to blow up in your face. Or is it to just avoid all situations that could possibly lead to new and difficult situations and live a routine and safe life? That's up to you to decide. There is no right or wrong answer, but if you pick one and the other seems more appealing, then maybe it is time to re-evaluate things.
I'm not saying to just go and be an ass(which you can totally say on here), this is me using humor to teach a real lesson. Just. Be. A person. Whatever person you want to be. If you want to be Negative Nancy, be negative Nancy. But when people don't want to be around you, accept it. Sometimes for the sake of interpersonal relations, and just not being a wiener in general, you need to learn to just put your fate in the hands of the universe and know you'll be OK in the end. Just like you do every time your aircraft leaves the ground and you know a bomb could blow you out of the sky and you'd never see it coming. It could. But it won't. So just do it.
I feel like the majority of people who ask questions like this(no knock on the OP or any of you) are actually quite content with who they are and have no plans to think or live differently. That's fine. But, what are we talking about at that point? What people think about you, because they can't put themselves in your shoes, so they judge you, and these intangible thoughts that pass as judgement deep in the empty caves of their inner thought manifest themselves and affect our thoughts and actions how, exactly?
Good advice I once got from a famous person. "What other people say about you is none of your business".
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Screaming_Emu
Well-Known Member
Wut?
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
Just how drunk are you right now?
ChasenSFO
hen teaser
-_- Sigh.
The question was asked how people with that mindset manage to not let it adversely affect their social lives, and I shared my experience of how to sit back and enjoy life despite all the "what ifs". Quite simple really. Take it, leave it, print it out and wipe your ass with it. Whatever you fancy.
The question was asked how people with that mindset manage to not let it adversely affect their social lives, and I shared my experience of how to sit back and enjoy life despite all the "what ifs". Quite simple really. Take it, leave it, print it out and wipe your ass with it. Whatever you fancy.
ppragman
FLIPY FLAPS!
I mean...you talked about pressing your balls up to the window of the tower cab...
ChasenSFO
hen teaser
It's an example. I could have used flying naked, pooping in the back of a public bus, any number of things. All of which don't matter as they are purely example. The intention was to get a laugh while getting a point across. But apparently me expressing myself on a board where I am always myself comes off as being drunk. Ok, I'm not hijacking this thread, have fun.
A Life Aloft
Well-Known Member
What's wrong with a little game of petro-roulette?
pilot4500
IT Architect/ Former Cirrus Charter Pilot
Some people think that game is fun. We have never run out of gas yet, but boy have we come way too close for comfort. At least, for my comfort.
Cessnaflyer
Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Story time!
Grandmother-in-law was the head of the local Realtor group and needed to find a band for the Christmas party. Being small town eastern Washington we had to travel around to different bars on a Saturday night to listen to them all. After the last one of the night it was 11:00 PM and we left the town with what the trip computer said was 40 miles of fuel and we only had 20 miles to go. We ran out about 4 miles from home but luckily made it to the highway where there was a bit more traffic and less snow to walk in. Got lucky and a passing car stopped for us and I jumped into the couples first gen Scion xB. When I got in the guy told me to watch out for his rifle on the floor board and they were on their way home from a successful deer hunt. Being a tiny car and not seeing a deer strapped to the roof I asked where it was and he said, "Yer sittin on it!" Sure enough he shot a fawn and covered it with an blanket and I was sitting on it's head. Got some gas from the farm tank and headed back to the car to fill it up. The rest of the family didn't believe what happened until I showed them the blood all over my favorite jeans.
Lesson learned, I will now always travel with a bit extra in the tank!