Thats the beauty of being in management. The answer to this question is entirely within the manager's interpretation. Yes, if you don't like Ted, or if you're

Thats the beauty of being in management. The answer to this question is entirely within the manager's interpretation. Yes, if you don't like Ted, or if you're harried and doing a bad job, why not call the whole thing 'his fault'. He should have read your mind, gone beyond the norm for his job and dreamt outside-the-box solutions to all the problems you didn't know he would face while providing him with questionable tools to do the job. And your word is what counts to HR and other managers. If you're trying to accomplish the task rather than promote yourself or denigrate Ted, or simply if you're effective, you should take responsibility for defining the goal, setting realistic expectations, creating failsafes to stop things before they affect the whole project, and providing proper support & guidance.