I had a hot tip to stop by and visit with Brent. As I entered his office, I noticed his eyes were sunk in. It was Friday, but he didn’t look like he was ready for the weekend.
“You look like crap,” I observed. “When did you get here this morning?”
Brent sat up, a bit startled. “Oh, man,” he said. “I rolled in around 5:00a. I just had to get some stuff done.”
“And when did you leave last night?”
“Well, I got out of here about 9:45p. I don’t know what it is. This has been going on for the past three weeks. On Monday, things don’t look so bad, but come Thursday and Friday, the work just seems to pile up. I have worked the last three Saturdays and last week, had to come in on Sunday. Missed the football game.”
“So, this is not some special project. Just your regular work,” I inquired.
“Yeah, in fact, if I had known about it ahead of time, I could delegate some of it out and it would already be done. But I don’t know about some of this stuff until it’s too late, or don’t realize how long it is really going to take. All of sudden, the pile is stacked up and everyone has gone home. The work’s gotta get done.”
“Brent, what if?” I started. “Brent, what if I don’t believe you.”
This sounds like a trap so many of us fall into! 🙂
Can’t wait for the next installment.
Sounds like he had knowledge of the assingment yet he kept putting it off. Didn’t estimare it would take some time to investigate to collect pertient data. Set it aside continued doing his own things. Its evident that he procrastinated the task. In really we all do this.
Maria is quite right. He must have planned everything ahead. He should be accountable and he doesn’t deserve an excuse.
He knows the next week is going to be a repeat of last week. If it were me, I’d be handing off the work I have now to others in anticipation of the work I WILL receive later in the week. Poor management and foresight and inability to act. Something seen all the time from very experienced project managers. Sad.