At this point, we renamed the CTA/PTA project Sphere, for Shipment Performance Historical Events Reporting Environment.

Three years passed, and Sphere was still "in development". Costs were nearing US$10 million. I still think it was a good idea, and it might have worked if the project manager hadn't sabotaged the project. There were several critical moments when he made decisions designed to produce political gains for himself rather than improving the design of our developing system.

Fortunately, by this time I had several other projects working at the trucking company. Something told me it might be a politic time to slip discreetly away from Sphere, which I did.

Knowing when to jump off a runaway truck, especially when it's heading for a crash, is mostly a matter of timing.