Okay, let’s talk about this ‘fujitsobo’ situation I ran into a while back. Not literal barnacles, you know, but something just as sticky and hard to get rid of at my old job.
It started with this reporting system we had. Ancient piece of work, seriously. Nobody really knew who built it or how it completely worked anymore. But management loved the reports it spat out, even though getting data into it was a nightmare.
Trying to Fix the Unfixable
So, I got tasked with ‘improving’ the input process. First thing I did was map out the current steps. It was nuts. We had to:
- Manually pull data from three different places.
- Format it exactly right in an old spreadsheet program.
- Upload it through this clunky web interface that timed out half the time.
- Then manually check if it even went through correctly.
Took hours each week. My first thought? Automate it. Seemed simple enough. I roughed out a plan, showed my boss. He just kinda nodded and said, “Well, be careful, that system is sensitive.” Sensitive? It was practically fossilized.
I spent a week writing a script. Tested it locally, worked like a charm. Pulled the data, formatted it, ready to go. Then I tried to interact with the upload interface. Nope. Blocked at every turn. The thing was designed, it seemed, specifically to prevent anything but manual human suffering.
That’s when the real ‘fujitsobo’ nature showed up. It wasn’t just the tech. It was the layers of approvals needed to even try changing anything. I needed sign-off from IT security (who didn’t understand the system), the department head (who didn’t want to rock the boat), and even finance (because apparently, the system spat out some numbers they used once a quarter).
Why Was I Even Doing This?
You might wonder why I bothered. Honestly? It was eating up so much of my team’s time, we couldn’t get to actual important work. We were constantly behind because of this data entry chore. But the real reason I got stuck with it was because I was the new guy after a reshuffle. The previous guy who handled it? He just quit one day, no notice. Left a sticky note saying “Good luck with the fujitsobo.” I thought he was joking about the coffee machine.
Turns out, this ‘fujitsobo’ system was legendary. People had tried to replace it for years. Big projects were launched, consultants hired, meetings held. Nothing ever stuck. The old system just clung on, immovable. Trying to change it was seen as a career dead-end.
I spent maybe two months on this. Meetings, presentations, more failed technical attempts. In one meeting, a senior manager literally told me, “Look, it’s annoying, but it works. We know its quirks. A new system would have new quirks we don’t know. Just keep feeding the beast.” Feed the beast. Right.
It felt like trying to scrape barnacles off a ship with a plastic spoon. Pointless and exhausting.
Eventually, I just gave up trying to automate the upload. Instead, I focused on streamlining the manual part as much as possible. Built a better spreadsheet template, wrote clearer instructions. Shaved maybe an hour off the weekly process. It wasn’t a fix, just… slightly less painful torture.
I left that place about six months later. Not just because of the ‘fujitsobo’ system, but it was a big part of it. It represented everything slow and resistant to change there. Last I heard? They’re still using it. Probably will be until the server literally crumbles to dust.
