But Jax was not cooperative.
He shrugged. “Ms. Gale, I’m sorry, but other projects are more urgent right now. We can’t risk upsetting our current clients for a potential one. The cost outweighs the benefit.”
Darcy frowned. “Jax, the Easemark project is larger than any current project we have. If we win this contract, the company’s revenue is secured for the next three years. I’m not asking for much. Just two programmers. I’ll work with them. We can probably get the iteration done in about two weeks.”
You can code? Jax felt deeply skeptical. Why don’t you just say you can fly while you’re at it?
And even if she could, did she really think three people could implement all the new requirements from her document in two weeks?
Wishful thinking!
He kept his disdain internal, pushing his glasses up his nose.
“I understand, but there’s really nothing I can do. Everyone is swamped with their own projects. There’s no spare time or energy for anything else.”
Darcy studied Jax across from her, her eyes narrowing slightly.
She could see it now. The man was an obstinate old mule.
She could, of course, use her authority to force him to prioritize her project. But the result would be poor, and it would only drive a deeper wedge between them.
As a new manager who hadn’t yet proven herself, making an enemy of the head of R&D right off the bat – what would Jethro think of her?
However, there was one thing she could use to her advantage.
After a long moment of thought, Darcy spoke slowly, “I see. The R&D team is short-handed. It’s tough for everyone.”
The corners of Jax’s mouth, which had been turned down, twitched upward in a suppressed smirk.
But the next moment, his eyes widened in shock at her words.
Darcy said, “In that case, I’ll transfer a few people from the Delivery department to help. I spoke with the lead there yesterday. He said they currently have sufficient staff.
“Most importantly, the senior members of the Delivery team are very enthusiastic about development work and are very familiar with the product. With their help, we can relieve some pressure on the R&D colleagues.”
Jax’s mouth opened, then closed, then opened again.
Jax’s mind was racing in a panic.
That won’t do! Absolutely not!
The Delivery department had been trying to get their hands on R&D work for ages. He’d successfully blocked them every time.
The lead over there was wildly ambitious, always wanting a piece of everything.
If they got a foothold in R&D, he’d be out of a job sooner or later!
The thought made him break out in a cold sweat.
Darcy, meanwhile, was the picture of calm, taking a deliberate sip of her coffee.
She’d already heard about the friction between the Delivery and R&D departments from Cade.
She had only intended to bluff Jax, but it was working better than expected. One sentence from her, and he was already falling apart.
Time to turn up the heat.
She stood up and headed for the conference room door, her expression cool. “Alright, it’s settled then. I’ll go speak with the Delivery lead now.”
“Wait!”
She had just reached the doorway when Jax’s voice stopped her.
Darcy turned back, feigning confusion. “Yes, Mr. Steel? Is something wrong?”
Jax gritted his teeth. “I… just recalculated our resources. I believe I can spare two engineers for you after all.”
“Oh, really? That’s wonderful.” Darcy put on a pleasantly surprised face, not calling him out on his sudden reversal.
Jax gave a strained, half-smile and gave her the two names.
The two engineers he “loaned” out were junior, with only two or three years of experience, and they were the newest hires, having joined just two months prior.
She just asked for two assistants, not for good ones. If she fails even with these two, it’s not my fault.
To his surprise, Darcy didn’t question it. She simply nodded. “Thank you, Mr. Steel. Please inform them. I’ll assign their tasks shortly.”
A look of schadenfreude crossed Jax’s face. “Of course, Ms. Gale.”
Back at his desk, Jax called the two new employees over and briefly explained the situation.
They exchanged uneasy glances. One of the young men, a blunt and straightforward type, scratched the back of his head. “Boss, I don’t want to go. A newcomer… what could she possibly know?”
Like the others, they saw Darcy as young, attractive, and parachuted into the CEO role at Stratagem out of nowhere. The private consensus was that her relationship with Jethro was… special.
What skills could someone like that possibly have?
They were afraid she’d just make their lives difficult.
And they refused to be cannon fodder.
Jax just smiled and clapped them both on the shoulder. “You don’t have a choice. Ms. Gale specifically requested you two. She wants to work with you personally. You can’t refuse her ‘kind’ offer.”
We’re doomed. The two young men looked as if they’d been given a death sentence, silently praying Darcy wouldn’t make their lives a living hell.
…
That afternoon, Darcy called the two engineers into a meeting room separately and laid out their coding tasks for the project.
She spoke with strong logic and clear thinking. The daily workload she assigned was reasonable.
What shocked them more was that Darcy used entirely technical terminology to communicate.
Which meant – she understood code!
Frank Barron, one of the two young men, stunned, swallowed hard, and raised his hand. “Ms. Gale… you can code too?”
Darcy smiled. “Of course. Didn’t you see my name listed in the task assignments?”
Frank looked down at the sheet in his hands, flipping the page and scanning the items with his finger. His eyes widened.
The most complex coding sections were assigned to… Darcy!
She… can she really handle that?
Darcy didn’t offer any further explanation.
In truth, she had been the top coder in her class during university. In the years building SummitCore with Zane, she had never let her skills lapse.
And, unbeknownst to Zane, she had often helped the SummitCore R&D team develop products to better meet client customization needs.
One of the products even utilized a patent of hers.
In other words, Darcy had both theoretical knowledge and practical experience, making her more capable than many established experts in the field.
But saying all that herself would sound too much like boasting.
The most direct way to dispel misconceptions was through action, not words.
…
At the Friday project check-in meeting for their three-person team, everyone reported their current progress and raised any issues they’d encountered.
When they saw Darcy’s progress on the shared screen, the other two were floored.
In just two days, she had advanced so far!
Frank immediately pulled up the shared code repository, where they could all see each other’s commits. He’d been so busy with his own tasks, he hadn’t had time to check the quality of Darcy’s submitted code.
He hadn’t expected much.
But what he saw astonished him.
Darcy’s code quality was exceptionally high!
It wasn’t just standardized; the logic behind it was brilliant. It wasn’t the usual quantity-over-quality approach. One could tell every line was thoughtfully constructed.
Some sections of her code made them stop and think for a while before they could fully grasp the elegance of the solution.
The two junior engineers stared, utterly dumbfounded.
Holy crap. She’s actually a max-level pro!
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.