This is generally a good strategy even if it wasn't your mistake. Last week I wrote a short apology for something I'm sure I didn't do, which got my client in trouble with his business partner.
The business partner sent my client an angry email demanding to know how the mistake could have been made. It's very likely that it was the business partner's mistake, very unlikely that it was my clients mistake... but "oh, hey! our consultant was working near that issue, maybe he touched it?! We'll ask him right away, Mr. Angry Important Business Partner!"
Problem is: there's no possible way to know who did it. Shifting it back to the likely source (business partner's team) will only make him more angry, whether or not they are responsible. As a consultant, I can only loose.
So I write an email to him, CC my client, and apologize for the mistake, promising that it won't happen again. My client knows I didn't do it, and now knows that I willingly took the bullet for him.
Maybe SGaaS is a valid business model, where SG = scapegoat.
A very good policy and good advice. Still, one should be careful about apologizing in a way that could bring them financial liability for something they actually were not responsible for.
The business partner sent my client an angry email demanding to know how the mistake could have been made. It's very likely that it was the business partner's mistake, very unlikely that it was my clients mistake... but "oh, hey! our consultant was working near that issue, maybe he touched it?! We'll ask him right away, Mr. Angry Important Business Partner!"
Problem is: there's no possible way to know who did it. Shifting it back to the likely source (business partner's team) will only make him more angry, whether or not they are responsible. As a consultant, I can only loose.
So I write an email to him, CC my client, and apologize for the mistake, promising that it won't happen again. My client knows I didn't do it, and now knows that I willingly took the bullet for him.
Maybe SGaaS is a valid business model, where SG = scapegoat.