At the beginning of July, the engineer who had become John's supervisor on the project called John into his office for a meeting with HR about his performance. John says they presented him with a performance improvement plan that was chock full of lies and inaccuracies. John challenged the information on the performance improvement plan. He says he was told that he needed to sign the performance improvement plan and that he would be fired if he didn't. John signed the performance improvement plan.

Later that month, John's project went through some testing and passed with flying colors. When he found out the results of the test, he knew his days at the company were numbered because the test results meant his work on the project was complete.

Concerned about his job, John says he contacted HR several times over the course of two weeks to request a private meeting. He says he was finally able to schedule a meeting with HR, but he wound up getting fired before the meeting took place.

John suspects that the two engineer managers had it in for him because they knew John was more capable of leading the big project than they were, yet they wanted control of the project, along with all the visibility and glory that would come from it. John believes they have so much sway in the organization due to nepotism.

John has consulted a lawyer and is pursuing legal action against his former employer. At the very least, he wants the severance pay he was denied for being unfairly fired.

John says he's learned three valuable lessons from this experience that he hopes he never has to implement. He shares them with CIO because he knows these kinds of machinations are not uncommon in the workplace.

First, he advises documenting every verbal conversation you have with someone whom you think is out to get you. He also recommends contacting a lawyer immediately. "It's far better to talk to somebody for $200 an hour than to soldier on for six months with no recourse," he says. "Corporations are getting really good at outing people and not having to pay the piper for it."

Finally, he says to encrypt your hard drive so your employer can't get access to it. Personally, I think encrypting your hard drive could get you into more trouble than you're already experiencing since your hard drive is your employer's property (you could be accused of sabotage.) Instead, you might consider storing duplicate copies of e-mails and other documentation you keep on a personal computer.

"I should have known better," says John in retrospect. "I should have seen it coming. I was so dedicated to making this job happen and seeing this job through. I remember saying to my wife, 'I know what's happening. I hope I can get the project done before anything happens, and then I'm going to look around for something new'."

Perhaps the ultimate lesson is to put yourself first. Don't be martyr to the company or the project. Don't soldier on but start looking for that new job before the conflict spirals completely out of control.