Why You Aren't Listening

To truly screw up, one must ignore something glaringly obvious. It's served on a platter, yet you choose to disregard it, leading to a preventable disaster.

I really screwed up.

As the lead developer on a high-stakes project, my intention was clear: deliver a much-needed backend website that would solve numerous operational problems and allow our business to grow. Our team had been working tirelessly for months, and we were in the final stretch. In a crucial project meeting, I was eager to showcase our progress and push for the finish line.

Enter Sarah* (name changed to protect the innocent), a junior developer who had joined us midway through the project. I was delivering a status update to stakeholders and diving deep into a challenge we were facing. Sarah raised her hand, her voice hesitant but determined. "I've noticed something about the user authentication..." she began.

Instead of listening, my mind went into education mode. Authentication was a tricky piece of the project, and our…