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This is what immediately came to mind. The OA missed the fourth reason why his Canary McGuffin wasn't touched: Maybe you, who gave the task, haven't clearly com

by teilo 8y ago

This is what immediately came to mind. The OA missed the fourth reason why his Canary McGuffin wasn't touched: Maybe you, who gave the task, haven't clearly communicated the problem, or the solution you are looking for. Now who is to blame in that circumstance? Presuming it's not an issue of laziness, or incompetence, or of higher priorities trumping your request, why are you looking at your McGuffin instead of communicating with the person you assigned the task?

Aeolun 8y ago
I think it was quite clear in the story that they talked to the person they requested it off at least 3 times. Giving them ample opportunity to ask about any information they might be missing.
komaromy 8y ago
> his her
rimliu 8y ago
This goes both ways. If the person given the task is not sure what they are supposed to do they should ask. How can you spend weeks on doing something if don't know what you should achieve?
taneq 8y ago
Same, my thoughts went straight to the quest giver. After receiving a response of "getting there" or "it's tricky" for the third time, rather than sitting back and smugly speculating on the deficiencies of the adventurer while "nothing happens", maybe they should have asked "what's the problem?" I'm seeing a bit of a pattern in these blog posts, where the author is more interested in proving their superiority over others than in actually getting stuff done.
- xamuel 8y ago
  >more interested in proving their superiority over others than in actually getting stuff done. I've noticed this happens a LOT in all kinds of meetings. I myself am guilty of it, so now I try to think before I speak, "if I raise this pedantic point, will that actually help further the team's goals?" Usually the answer is NO.
vidarh 8y ago
The starting point of the article is that she discovered a communications issue: For whatever reason her counterpart is giving misleading responses when she thought she was communicating with them. The point is that this "canary McGuffin" revealed there was an issue that talking to them didn't. That issue might be all kinds of things, including poor communication prior, but that's incidental to the fact that having an idea of how the tasks should proceed means you have a non-intrusive way of checking if their communication means what you think it does.

by teilo 8y ago

Aeolun 8y ago

I think it was quite clear in the story that they talked to the person they requested it off at least 3 times. Giving them ample opportunity to ask about any information they might be missing.

komaromy 8y ago

> his her

rimliu 8y ago

This goes both ways. If the person given the task is not sure what they are supposed to do they should ask. How can you spend weeks on doing something if don't know what you should achieve?

taneq 8y ago

Same, my thoughts went straight to the quest giver. After receiving a response of "getting there" or "it's tricky" for the third time, rather than sitting back and smugly speculating on the deficiencies of the adventurer while "nothing happens", maybe they should have asked "what's the problem?" I'm seeing a bit of a pattern in these blog posts, where the author is more interested in proving their superiority over others than in actually getting stuff done.

xamuel 8y ago
>more interested in proving their superiority over others than in actually getting stuff done. I've noticed this happens a LOT in all kinds of meetings. I myself am guilty of it, so now I try to think before I speak, "if I raise this pedantic point, will that actually help further the team's goals?" Usually the answer is NO.

vidarh 8y ago

The starting point of the article is that she discovered a communications issue: For whatever reason her counterpart is giving misleading responses when she thought she was communicating with them. The point is that this "canary McGuffin" revealed there was an issue that talking to them didn't. That issue might be all kinds of things, including poor communication prior, but that's incidental to the fact that having an idea of how the tasks should proceed means you have a non-intrusive way of checking if their communication means what you think it does.