Change it up – Sandra 49

 

[For back story go here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and more recent Sandra episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

She didn’t know what she wanted to do, but she knew something had to be done. Somehow Adrian had ended up with the keys to the castle, the grounds and quite a few outbuildings, and while he may or may not be an entirely trust worthy keeper of the keys, it just didn’t rest well with Sandra that he should have this power. Moreover, she was worried that while their fair, equitable and friendly marketing and on boarding routines were very good, well considered and thought out – and effective in creating a near perfect balance of gender identities – she just didn’t want one man to be lurking behind it all. Fine. But where to start?

Of course with her contacts, skills and considerations it would’ve easy enough to just do it all externally. A few well placed PR shots together with some suggestions made directly to Adrian and Trinny could have the right impact. But she suspected this could take a while and even then the actual effect could be cosmetic rather than deep seated. No, this had to strike at the heart of the machine.

With her investor and co-ownership privileges in tact she logged on to the back end of Together...Apart and had a look around. Things had changed a little since she was last here, but it was still navigable and on the whole there were just additions to the layout and the corresponding online world rather than anything having been shifted and changed. 

She pottered around some of the interaction commands and played a few routines back judgementally. This was the problem, she thought, a lot of this stuff was quite simply in-built bias, there was a chance no one even noticed how it impacted on them, but nevertheless the questions asked, the information stored might all play into Adrian’s assumptions rather than being fair.

But Sandra wasn’t a computer programmer and fiddling with an element here and there could upset the entire world. So she did what anyone would do, did it quickly and thoroughly and left the app where it was.

Twelve minutes later the call came through.

“Adrian thinks we’ve been hacked,” said Trinny’s voice across the speakerphone. “It looks comprehensive as well, done at the very root of the app because...”

“Because I did it,” said Sandra, calmly.

“There’s some weird hack going on out there generally,” Trinny went on. “Loads of computers and apps and servers and who knows what are being affected...”

“I did it,” said a Sandra again.

“It might take some work to get it back, but Adrian reckons if he concentrates on it today he might have it up and running by close of play.”

“For the last time,” said Sandra. “I did it.”

“But you wouldn’t be hacking all those computers,” said Trinny. “Why would you be hacking those  computers?”

“I’m not,” said Sandra. “I’m hacking ours. And I’m not hacking it. I’ve just changed a password or two. Adrian’s way overboard - although I trust he’ll be charging you loads to do what he says needs to be done, right?”

“You? What? But? So fine OK, give us the new password, Sandy. Point taken on security and…”

“No,” said Sandra. “Access temporarily denied.”

“You can’t do this...”

“In fact I have, though,” said Sandra. “And it will stay that way until we’ve sorted a few things out. This is not just about security.”

“So what is it about?”

“A new contract, a promise to get a female app specialist on board to work alongside Adrian. A complete review of what happens on the app and what happens to the information.”

“We’ve been through this,” said Trinny. “Everyone signs up to the terms and conditions...”

“No one reads the terms and conditions,” said Sandra. “How many have you gone through – there could be something in there that says we take your first born and no one would notice – do you honestly think..?”

“And a female app developer? Where are we going to get one of those from?”

“From the talent pool of highly skilled women out there,” said Sandra. “And you pay her what you pay him.”

“It’s not sustainable...”

“If it isn’t it shouldn’t exist,” said Sandra. “Plus we become more sustainable and stronger if we do this.”

“Look, we’ll delete your meeting with Daniel, honestly, it’ll be as if you never met.”

“No,” said Sandra firmly. “This isn’t about that. It’s about the app getting out of hand and being pitched unfairly. And being Adrian’s. Just Adrian’s. Why are we relying on Adrian? We address it now and it can move ahead. Don’t and you won’t get your keys back.”

“I’m sure Adrian can crack it...”

“If he does I’ll come back and break it,” said Sandra. “That’s it.”