The first time Bojan heard about Erich Dodoni was during the first interview in Dodoni computing, when chief of Zagreb office Zakro described the mysterious boss with the following words: "If we invite you to the second round of interviews, you will meet Mr. Dodoni, owner and founder of Dodoni computing. He was born in Greece but studied in Zagreb and later in Dembelia. You'll see that he is a fine person and a typical European gentleman."

When Bojan really met Erich, he remembered Zarko's words and thought he was right. Erich looked very friendly, smiling and in calm voice he described how he was doing business and what his vision of Dodoni computing and Bojan's role in it was. He impressed Bojan even more when he invited all employees to free lunch at nearby restaurant. He really seemed like a "good boss" or "father figure" in every aspect. Among many things Erich said during that first meeting, Bojan particularly remembered this statement: "We in Dodoni computing are so well organized and efficient that five of our developers perform like fifteen in other firms." Bojan kept recalling that phrase many times in days to come when he finally learned that by  "organization" and "efficiency" he should read "chaos" and "unbelievable inefficiency".

Profile of European gentleman

Erich was in mid forties and he spoke some strange mixture of Croatian and Serbian language that definitely revealed the fact that neither of those languages was his mother tongue. He even tried to speak Zagreb dialect, probably to get close to his employees, but as soon as he realized it was too hard for him and in most cases grotesque, he switched to his standard mix, which was, as we said, very far from either standard Croatian or local dialect.

Erich was a big mystery for all employees in Dodoni computing, except maybe for Zarko. How he ended in Dembelia, how he started his firm, how he got so many contacts that allowed him to work for such big Dembelian companies - those were the questions that intrigued his staff. Those of them who knew that Zagreb office was not profitable and that Erich was constantly investing in it were even more puzzled. "Where did he get the capital for such long-time investments and how long it would last?", they wondered. Even today, when Zagreb office is slowly collapsing and employees are leaving for better jobs, most of those questions are still left unanswered. They will probably remain so, except if Mr. Dodoni decides to publish his version of the story and solve all the puzzles. Erich? ;))

Company vision and Return on investment

Whenever Erich showed up in Zagreb, he didn't miss the opportunity to explain to the staff how he saw the vision and perspective of "our little enterprise", the pet name he often used for his firm. "First", he said, "our main advantage over competition is our ability to adapt to different situations and that is because we have small but competent team. Most of the Dembelian software firms are too big and inert and most of the people there are idle or not enough productive because there is not so many available projects and they are working in old technologies, which nobody wants any more."

"Then", he continued, "there is also our unique model of doing business that I call  Return on investment (ROI). There is a huge demand for such model and we have many potential clients, even better, we've already done some projects following that model, DAMP, for example. What attracts the clients the most is the possibility that money they invested in software can be after some time returned and they can even make profit on it. Let me give you an example.."

Then he drew some sketches on the whiteboard and turned to audience. "The system is very simple", he said, "Company A orders a software system from us and we develop it, mostly from the scratch. When finished, the new system becomes a property of company A. Then we try to sell the same system to other companies and if, for example, company B purchases it, the profit is split between company A and Dodoni computing. The same principle applies if there are more clients like company B. By following this system, company A and Dodoni both get profit i.e. company A gets return on its investment in software system and Dodoni computing gets new clients who will probably order more software." Then he emphasized: "The best part is that we didn't have to invest in the initial development and we got the system that we can sell to others and get new references."

Although Erich's system looked like The Holy Grail of software industry, those who listened to his monologue couldn't resist to ask themselves some questions, like:

• How many projects have been already finished by following that system? In other words, is there any project developed for company A and sold to other companies, e.g. B or C?
• If such project does exist, is company who initially ordered the product satisfied with it?
• How come that no other firm in Dembelia came to the same idea?

Well, a real cynic would probably ask even more questions like these, but Bojan was at that time full of enthusiasm so such thoughts didn't come to his mind. He trusted his new firm wholeheartedly. 

Later, when he learned the real truth about his firm, he realized that Erich's ROI philosophy was just his imagination, as well as profitability of "his little enterprise". The main reason that system didn't work was because clients weren't just interested in getting the system and return of their investment, but they also wanted the application to work, to be stable, delivered on time and up to their requirements. "Annoying pests!", Erich would probably think.

There is no known case that any system made in Dodoni was ever sold to more that one company. On the contrary, there were cases when even the first customer of the product, due to a low quality of final product and Dodoni's support, refused to do further business with Erich's company.

So, let's conclude..

Although at the beginning dazzled by Erich and his company, Bojan soon realized that something was terribly wrong in "our little enterprise" and that "fish rots from the head". At the end of his career in Dodoni computing he had enough experience to summarize his firm's worst practices and the biggest mistakes of its owner:

• Failing to understand what the software development is all about or "Give me more Chinese and we'll finish the Great wall sooner"
  Although Erich started a software company, it was obvious he had no idea about the essence of software development. On many occasions he used to say to his employees: "I won't interfere and tell you how you should do your job. You are the experts". Then, sooner or later, he would forget about what he said and for instance, arranged fixed delivery date for which he didn't consult his "experts". If employees complained about unrealistic date, he asked questions like: "Why it can't be done on the date I promised to client?", "Why it takes so much to develop that application?" or "Why we can't compensate for short delivery date by adding more people to project?" This last question he formulated in his famous sentence "Give me more Chinese and we'll finish the Great wall sooner" (see note). 
• Not caring for his most valuable assets - people
  Although everybody knows that software is created by people and that human resources are the most valuable capital in our industry, Dodoni computing and its owner tried very hard to prove just the opposite. People there were treated like an expendable piece of equipment that only requires paycheck at the end of the month and that has no other needs or feelings. Instead of focusing on people, teamwork, self-improvement, education and other human related factors, Dodoni computing and its management were focused exclusively on projects and clients. As an employee of that firm, you had a feeling that you are expected to be a software making machine that only thinks how to do its work on time and that never complains. So, if you feel uncomfortable because it is too hot in summer, or there is no toilet paper in the bathroom or coffee in the kitchen, it is your problem and how dare you think of such irrelevant things, when you are involved in such great projects? Or, if you think that your boss is totally incompetent for doing anything related to software, because projects are done randomly and without specifications, shut up and don't complain. Isn't salary enough for you, what else would you want from your great firm?     
• Bad management
  Not only Erich didn't know a thing about the software development process and how to treat people with respect, but he appointed equally incompetent and ignorant person as a head of Zagreb office. It is not a problem if the owner of the company knows nothing about the production process and is interested only in making profit. It is also not a problem if he hires a good manager who knows how to efficiently organize development process so that people are doing their work good and with satisfaction. It is a BIG problem if he fails to do so, as Erich did. And even worse, he also failed to correct his mistake. Although it was obvious that Zagreb office is poorly managed and it doesn't make profit to its owner, not to mention that people were constantly leaving the firm, the same man was in charge for many years and there was no sign that Erich planned to change that fact e.g. fire him and find more competent person.

For those who read to the end..

This is the bonus story written by one of his former employees. See Erich from another angle.

Erich Dodoni was a big mystery to all of us. He used to act as a "father figure", good friend who was always there for you and could help you with his kindness, great knowledge and rich experience. Non-champions between us sooner or later compared him to the piece of onion. There were several reasons for such comparison. Some would argue that Erich's posture and his skin reminded them on the form and surface of onion. Other, who were more forgiving would think of Erich's many faces and remembered that you can combine onion with almost every dish. Some less forgiving would think of how onion made them cry once they tasted it. Bad breath and gases also came to their mind.

Erich saw himself as a competent and experienced salesman and system analyst, one who feeds his hungry team of developers with new opportunities and new projects. Off course, he thought that this role was crucial to the success of his firm. He described his every day's job of acquiring projects as time-consuming and hard process that relied on his good reputation, knowing the right people in the right places and also of knowing many different business processes. Of course, we must not forget his incredible talent for psychology. He thought he could really get under clients' skin and make them wish what he wanted to offer them.

Faced with such a vivid description of Erich's master role, his non-champion employees couldn't help but to imagine Erich as Jehovah's witness or travelling salesman who goes from door to door and tries to persuade poor housewives to buy products they don't need. One of employees pictured Erich as walking with his notebook from one Dembelian firm to another and selling software in kilos. "You need 2 kg of software? Right, no problem. We can do it. You sir, you said you need 4 kilos? I'll tell my men to hurry up but you will get it, no problem.", he tried to quote Erich while other laughed.

One of the stories that best describes Erich's talent as a system analyst goes like this: After many attempts, Erich finally succeeded to persuade one of the greatest Dembelian car companies to buy a software from him. "It is a big thing", he explained, "once you get the project and become their vendor and partner, you are inside and you can expect more projects and more money in the future". He already saw himself in the paradise, not caring for the real project at all.
The project was relatively small. Client wanted an application that will use some test data and produce some statistical results and graphs. The only problem was that the requirements were inadequate, there was no sight of functional specification and all in all, nobody had a clue what had to be done. The big part of the project time was spent on guessing and trying to read client's mind. When asked to clear things up, Erich responded that he had no time and that it was not his policy to bother clients with details. "You just implement something, then we will see if they are satisfied with that and we'll make corrections if they aren't".
Is it necessary to say that the application  completely missed the client's expectations in general and no other projects were done for the same client?

Note: For those of you who find the Chinese metaphor too confusing, let's explain it in other words. By comparing building the wall and the software process, Erich wanted to point out that for him those two activities follow the same principle. More people you add to project, sooner the work will be finished. Ten man-months, ten people in one month. Anyone who has been in software development knows how ill that assumption is.