From: Rhonda J Brown
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 5:42 AM
To: simon
Subject: Re: Call tomorrow

Simon
I think it is important to set up our relationship Properly from the beginning.

First of all I have an appointment with a potential client at 10 EST so it will be difficult to get on call with such late notice If I can rudely step away what number is the call on If you are having the right call at 8am to be on- then I can make that call. What number are you calling in to?

Secondly Brian is right, the consideration to have me on the call is paramount and in the Future you should place me on those calls. Since you might not be aware, as Brian's partner, I have invested significant time and money in this company and this is very critical to its success. I would appreciate your respect for that relationship and include me in the future.

Thirdly I ran a 2.8billion dollar company so "talking techie" is not the issue. In you last email explaining the 6month time line, no administration tools and double click as your hope to resolve shows no regard for the call we had in terms of the needs and the conversation about Net Suite integration. If you're unclear how I want the business to run I will make time for a call to review again.

I would VERY much like to clearly understand what you are delivering in a week and the exact time line you see in the 6month build

Rhonda

From: Simon Aloyts
Sent: Wednesday, March 2, 2011 11:17
To: rhondajoybrown
Subject: RE: Call tomorrow

Hi Rhonda,

I’m sorry, I just now saw this email. It didn’t forward for some reason.

The “relationship” we have is patient and EMT. Please don’t mistake it for something else. Bruce asked me for the favor of fixing your broken process and there is nothing I won’t do for Bruce. This will involve breaking some bones to reset them properly.

You should know that I am a big fan of your resume and am tickled when you quote it. But the view is different from the bottom up. And since we’re reminiscing about things past, over a decade ago, I got thrown into a much bigger mess than this with a Wall Street client. The project was an analysis of managing director performance which determined who got bonuses and how much. It was 2 months late and superstars were quitting and the person in your role was a big scary dude who went on to be a Secretary of Treasury or something like that. I told him then what I am telling you now: I am assembling you a car. I don’t need to hear your philosophy on internal combustion. I just need to buy you an engine. If you don’t understand that some parts must be bought instead of built (just for right now), then you have a fundamental disconnect with reality and talking to you is distracting until you come down to earth.

“Buttons” don’t belong on a project plan. It’s an abstraction. It took you longer to put “twitter feed” into your spreadsheet and bitch about it via email than it will take my team to build the damn thing in! You’re paying time and material. They’ll build you anything you want! All you’ll ever hear from them is sir, yes sir! I’ll be the one to reign in your requests. You don’t need a detailed plan for every letter on a web page. Like any battle plan, it’ll change with the first few shots anyway.

You guys were beaten up for months by your old guard and I feel badly for you. But I don’t imagine you got to where you are by not knowing how to take some punches and bounce back. So don’t wallow in your grief for the next 3 weeks because all that will happen is it will be 3 weeks later. Let’s start running and let us build the car around you.

Sincerely,

Simon