Just Asking Questions
A workplace satire in comic form. One org chart. The right question, asked at the moment it can no longer change anything.
MaJESTa Software sells the platform no one names. The field architects file the reports no one reads. Every season follows one renewal cycle through the people who live inside it: the directors, the consultants, the engineers, and the one person still asking why.
The main run is the slow burn of a single account. One question, one meeting too late. Read it for the story of how an organization talks itself into exactly the decision it was trying to avoid.
Read J.A.Q. for the organization. Read the Multiverse for the pattern. Read LA²SE for the engineer living with the consequences.
Filed in the main run
The Happiest Workplace on the Org Chart
21 filesThe Happiest Workplace on the Org Chart
During Culture Week at MaJESTa Software, a manager lectures employees about transparency and inclusion, while an engineer ironically prepares to quit by saving his resume. The strip contrasts the company's corporate branding about belonging with the employee's quiet exit from the organization.
The Director's Direction
A manager assigns an employee the role of release liaison, tasking them with coordinating across various departments without giving them any actual authority. As the employee inspects a complex release plan with many dependencies, they realize the role offers all of the responsibility with none of the control.
One Seat in the Sandbox
An employee presents a Diagnostic Framework to her colleagues, but her manager dismisses it as too complicated and walks out. Later, a male colleague presents nearly the exact same framework to the group and receives their applause and immediate executive approval, leading the original presenter to sternly request a written record of his 'innovation'.
The Backend Is Easy
A coworker explains a complicated, twelve-step deployment process for eight isolated software instances as if it were simple. When the main character is later left to deal with a critical system failure caused by this exact process, he realizes he has been left with all the responsibility but none of the authority to fix it.
Load-Bearing Nothing
Two employees discuss the technical impossibility of a requested software feature, leading to a meeting where the request remains unresolved. The strip concludes with the employees acknowledging that they are forced to build complex, risky workarounds for features that cannot be properly implemented.
The Tool Says You’re Right
Two coworkers discuss an audit gap regarding 150 unverified requirements, debating the difference between compliance as a tool versus a checkbox. Despite concerns about human review and actual correctness, they conclude that managing risk requires adding more process and documentation, ultimately resulting in a hollow dashboard success while the underlying software failure persists.
The Workaround Becomes the Architecture
21 filesEvidence of Progress
21 filesTransformation Complete
21 filesBigger, Faster, Same
21 filesDefinitely Not Legacy
21 filesNothing to Worry About
21 filesLived the Pain?
21 filesAI Will Fix It
21 filesThe Digital Tether
21 filesThe System Nobody Owns
31 filesDecision Debt
31 files
