Marketing demands review of all technical documents, programmer creates a fake protocol to mess with them: ‘[It was] called the “TP Protocol.” [I]t could be implemented as a 2 or 3-layer network, each layer called a “ply”‘ – FAIL Blog

The interplay between departments and their personalities is one of the more fascinating dynamics in any workplace; undoubtedly, there is no greater discrepancy—no contrast more glaring—in personality and presentation than between the technical department and sales or marketing. It’s pretty much a “Yin and Yang” situation, except without much harmonious existence and more of a quiet standoff of incompatible values. The charisma and peacocking personalities of sales, prioritizing smoke and mirrors, and grand gestures clash with the quiet, logical precision of the technical workers. 

Expectations are never going to meet the reality of what is technically possible, and when sales/marketing overpromise, it becomes hard to deliver a product that is going to keep clients happy. And when it comes to finalizing a project together and shipping it to clients, there’s always going to be disagreements as the two values collide. 

When this marketing department demanded a review of all technical documents that a client might possibly see, it prompted this programmer to implement a satirical protocol, proving that marketing was not capable of properly reviewing technical documents anyway, due to their inability to piece together the hidden message in the protocol’s operation.