The programmer in your story has realised this fundamental truth:

The spoken word is ephemeral and easily forgot. The design of the product that pays the bills is not so easily undone.

What people say in meetings; all the posturing and preening; the petty one-upmanship and power-play — none of this has any relevance to what actually gets done in the real world.

When it comes to what actually gets implemented — all of the power is in the hands of the programmer who gets there first. After all — once the die has been cast and the direction set, who is going to undo the work and start again?

In this, the programmer is the decider.

Programmers have an immense amount of power, and there is no reason whatsoever why he shouldn’t simply ignore the pointless social preening and get on and make the product that he wants to.

After all, the consequences of his decisions will ripple far and wide thorough the product and beyond and have a heft; a level of consequence and a permanence that no ‘soft’ skills specialist can match.