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What I was trying to say was that there are very valid reasons that mean I cannot and should not turn my attention to a distant project while I have my hands fu
by smcl 4y ago
What I was trying to say was that there are very valid reasons that mean I cannot and should not turn my attention to a distant project while I have my hands full right now. It doesn't mean I'll never do it, but it does mean that "I don't know right now, I need to complete some work before I can turn my attention to this properly" is not only a reasonable response but ultimately the correct one, rather than throwing out a number that I'll possibly be held to at a future date.
- willcipriano 4y ago"It's going to take me a couple days to put together a project plan, given that the project itself has yet to be fully defined. Shall I put project X on hold until I get that done?" Resourcing isn't a individual contributors problem, if it will take you a couple days to get a estimate, and they choose to prioritize that. Fine. If they don't want to give you the time, refuse to speculate, if they keep pushing, tell them it will take a year or some other large number that you could do it 2 - 3 times over in. If they say it won't take that long, ask them how they know since the project isn't defined.
- smcl 4y agoAh yeah those are some good strategies and they're usually how I approach this when it comes up so I think we are on the same page :) It's just tiresome to have to do, and I feel like in doing so despite being polite and calm I think I'm being thought of as obstinate or a troublemaker. Which is a shame because in fact I'm trying to reduce the uncertainty and chaos and make everyone's lives a bit nicer :) Oh well, like I said it doesn't come up often enough to cause me great stress and I'm experienced enough to sort of handle myself when it does. Just ... I wish it didn't :D