I work for what used to be a small software company, but that grew quickly and ended up merging with a spinoff from a much larger company. This spinoff has a lot of legacies, both system-wise and culturally, from the old company, and it shows in the attitudes of the management and the approach of users to dealing with technology. We've been struggling to implement a major ERP system, and while the system itself is often to blame for our difficulties, the larger problem is that users and management have a basic attitude that software = IT's problem. They don't understand the system, they don't take the time to write up good requirements, and there is almost no real definition of roles and responsibilities within the project team. The end result is that we (the tech team) often end up spinning our wheels trying to interpret vague requirements and spending a lot of time fixing things when the users change their minds over and over again or it turns out our guesses about their requirements were wrong. I as the manager spend an inordinate amount of time doing damage control, trying to improve communication with the business, and plugging the dykes wherever I can.

Between the frustration of fighting an uphill battle with the users and the ongoing takeover of our small-company culture by the top-down red tape approach of the corporate parent, I'm starting to question the long-term value of staying here. Unfortunately, I have a lot of life factors at the moment that are pushing me to do exactly that. What I really want to do is figure out a way to turn the tides instead of just giving up.