What frustrates me most

[mapsedge]

What frustrates me most about my partner (DataGuy) here at work is that he live constantly within the situation of Buridan's ass*, which is to say that he is indecisive. 

* Buridan's Ass, or the "rational donkey", refers to a paradoxical situation wherein an ass, placed exactly in the middle between two stacks of hay of equal size and quality, will starve to death since it cannot make any rational decision to start eating one rather than the other.

DataGuy is, by and large, my controller.  He prioritizes the work I do day to day because he is the one who takes client phone calls and therefore knows which clients need the most attention on any given day at any given hour.

We have two hot projects at the moment.  Both are billable.  Both are mid-process.  Both are due at the end of the month.  I came to a stopping point on Project 1, turned it over to the client for approval, and moved back to Project 2.

I'm spinning plates, that's all.  Progress on one, turn it over to the client.  Progress on two, turn it over to the client.  Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat.

DataGuy is of the opinion that we should go ahead and assume approval on Project 1, finish it and publish it to their website.  I agree (typically, this client never moves forward without a push), but there's no harm in letting them wait.

I wait for fifteen minutes while he looks at both projects on the to-do list.  Both billable.  Both mid-process.  Which one to work on, which one, which one...

I'm going to work on Two, I says.

Wait, One is billable, he says.

So is Two, I says.

Yeah, but..., he says.

I've been cooling my heels for a quarter of an hour that I could have been making progress, I want to say, but don't.  Instead I say, I'm going to work on Two.

Quote for the day: Do not mistake "talking" for "action."

Comments

[jehosefatz.livejournal.com]

I apply the same logic that applies at 4-way stop signs if you hit the sign at the same time as somebody else: the one on the right has right of way. Alternately you can apply the solution to mazes: tear the hem out of your robe, tie it to something and start walking in circles around his desk while it unravels until he chokes.

Then work on the one you want to work on.

Oddly enough, both donkeys and mules are generally a lot smarter than they get credit for being. Much smarter than horses, for example.

- Jeho

[brotherwilliam.livejournal.com]

Does his PC boot up to a favorite game ? I used to work for one like that.
He SWORE he NEVER played that game...and yet Autoexec.bat read:
"cd\games\CHESS.EXE"

May he rot in his own bucket of indecision.

bw