u/Holy_Moly_12

Posting here because I used to work in consulting all my life but switched to a post sales role in tech recently and I am wondering if my view of the situation is different, because of my experience with consulting work culture especially regarding commitments made towards clients.

So Last week, we had a handover call for a new client. The client was stressed because they had a migration deadline for the following week.

On the call, our pre-sales engineer (let’s call him X) explicitly promised the client he would write up a step-by-step technical playbook with specific API calls so they could execute the migration over the weekend. The client was relieved. After the call X drops a >20-page document into our internal chat and tags me and another colleague saying we should review it cause it’s generated by AI and he didn't go through all details.

I was upset cause he made a promise to the client, couldn't be bothered to actually write it, and tried to pass off 25 pages of unverified AI generation as my task. If I send unreviewed technical instructions to a client and their weekend migration fails, it would me me taking liability.

I didn't argue with X in the chat. Instead, I sent my follow up mail, attached my slides, CC'd X and wrote: "Regarding the doc, X will follow up with you directly". I also messsaged X in the internal group chat (CC’d my manager) that I informed client about his deliverable via mail.

Then I shut my laptop and enjoyed my long weekend. X was upset and complained in the internal team chat (where my manager can read) that I shouldn't commit him to things without asking and tried to argue that playbooks are a post-sales deliverable. In the end X sent the doc to the client. Now I have to face X next week. He is clearly annoyed that I forced his hand via a client-facing email. I know it was a ruthless move, but I prioritised keeping client informed before the long weekend, their deadline and tried to protect my team from absorbing Xs technical debt.

Did I play this right, or did I cross a line by using the client email to force him to do his job? How would you handle the internal politics with him moving forward?

I work in cs for a tech company. Last week, we had a handover call for a new client. The client was stressed because they had a deadline for the following week.

On the call, our pre-sales engineer (let’s call him X) explicitly promised the client he would write up a step-by-step technical playbook with specific API calls so they could execute the migration over the weekend. The client was relieved. After the call X drops a >20-page document into our internal chat and tags me and another colleague saying we should review it cause it’s generated by AI and he didn't go through all details.

I was upset cause he made a promise to the client, couldn't be bothered to actually write it, and tried to pass off 25 pages of unverified AI generation as my task. If I send unreviewed technical instructions to a client and their weekend migration fails, it would be me taking liability.

I let X know it’s too much to review and offered an alternative derivable which he dismissed. I didn't argue with X further in the chat. Instead, I sent my follow up mail, attached my slides, CC'd X and wrote: "Regarding the doc, X will follow up with you directly". I also messsaged X and cc my manager in the team chat that I let client know X will follow up with the doc.

Then I shut my laptop and enjoyed my long weekend. X was upset and complained in the internal team chat that I shouldn't commit him to things without asking and tried to argue that playbooks are a post-sales deliverable. In the end X sent the doc to the client. Now I have to face X next week. He is clearly annoyed that I forced him via a client-facing email. I know it was a ruthless move, but I prioritised the client's deadline and tried to protect my team from absorbing his technical debt.

If there had been more time I would have hold off to send the mail till the following day to find consensus, but that wasn’t the case and I prioritized keeping the client informed. X had btw no public holiday that that.

Did I play this right, or did I cross a line by using the client email to force him to do his job? How would you handle the internal politics with him moving forward?

I work in post-sales for a tech company. Last week, we had a handover call for a new client. The client was stressed because they had a massive, immovable migration deadline for the following week.
On the call, our pre-sales engineer (let’s call him A) explicitly promised the client he would write up a step-by-step technical playbook with specific API calls so they could execute the migration over the weekend. The client was relieved. After the call A drops a >20-page document into our internal chat and tags me and another colleague saying we should review it cause it’s generated by AI and he didn't go through all details.

I was upset cause he made a promise to the client, couldn't be bothered to actually write it, and tried to pass off a huge pages of unverified AI generation as my problem. If I send unreviewed technical instructions to a client and their weekend migration fails, it would me me taking liability.

I didn't argue with him A in the chat. Instead, I sent my follow up mail, attached my slides, CC'd A, and wrote: "Regarding the doc, A will follow up with you directly". I also messsaged A that I assigned the task to him via mail.

Then I shut my laptop and enjoyed my long weekend. A was upset and complained in the internal team chat that I shouldn't commit him to things without asking and tried to argue that playbooks are a post-sales deliverable. In the end A sent the doc to the client. Now I have to face A next week. He is clearly annoyed that I forced his hand via a client-facing email. I know it was a ruthless move, but I prioritised the client's deadline and tried to protect my team from absorbing his technical debt.

Did I play this right, or did I cross a line by using the client email to force him to do his job? How would you handle the internal politics with him moving forward?