Programmers vs. Management

Written by Carolyn Shelby

Received from my mom today, via email.

A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced altitude and spotted a woman below. He descended a bit more and shouted, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised a friend I would meet him an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The woman below replied, “You’re in a hot air balloon hovering approximately 30 feet above the
ground. You’re between 40 and 41 degrees north latitude and between 59 and 60 degrees west longitude.”

“You must be a programmer,” said the balloonist.

“I am,” replied the woman, “How did you know?”

“Well,” answered the balloonist, “everything you told me is technically correct, but I’ve no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I’m still lost. Frankly, you’ve not been much help at all. If anything, you’ve delayed my trip.”

The woman below responded, “You must be in Management.”

“I am,” replied the balloonist, “but how did you know?”

“Well,” said the woman, “you don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You have risen to where you are due to a large quantity of hot air. You made a promise, which you’ve no idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to solve your problems. The fact is you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but now, somehow, it’s my fault.”

Carolyn Shelby

Carolyn Shelby is an Organic Growth & SEO Strategist with more than 25 years of experience helping enterprise brands, SaaS companies, and media organizations build lasting search visibility. She specializes in technical SEO, AI search adaptation, and strategic growth, and is a frequent industry speaker and a regular contributor to Search Engine Journal, Search Engine Land, and other top digital publications.

SEO 101: Starting Your Own Social Network

Spine-health launches new design, usability enhancements

NEVER MISS AN ARTICLE

Get My Newsletter

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

11 thoughts on “Programmers vs. Management”

  1. Carolyn,

    Just goes to show that no good deed goes unpunished. Keep sharing the good jokes and ignore the flaming idiots.

    Tom

    Reply
  2. I hate it when I find gems like this and I fail to finder the blog owners handle for either twitter /FF.

    Sub’ing to another RSS is so lame :(-

    Reply
  3. Carolyn,

    This is a great post! I’ve been listening to your podcast for about a year and figured it was time to actually visit your site and drop you a line.

    I don’t care if this joke was lifted from somewhere else. It’s still funny as hell and applicable.

    Thanks for all the great info.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.