When the Boss Gives You One Project Too Many
nytimes.com
nytimes.com
> Ask what you should do first. Should you stop working on X and Y and finish this new project first?”
How... niave. In my experience, in these situations the boss will say, "Work on Y"... then when X is due, wonder why X isn't done (and blame you).
This puts them in a double-bind: do they tell you to work on Y and come off looking like an asshole to person A? If it truly is important (or they are assholes), they'll say yes.
Then it's a simple matter of telling person A that you'll be behind on their project and letting politics take its course. If project X is really important to person A, then they'll go talk to person Y. Either way you're in the clear. Once you've gotten another person involved, it's much more difficult for someone to gaslight you in the manner you speak of.
Unless you're the kind of employee that needs constant hand-holding and micromanagement, you're still responsible for your other tasks. If X will slip because of the new work, it's up to you to communicate that clearly to those concerned.
Sure, some people expect the boss to anticipate and keep track of all of that. Usually the same people that bitch about not being given enough responsibility, freedom and trust...
In the end, it all depends on communication: if you don't clearly agree on what will happen to X and Y, both you and your boss will be screwed. Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups.
The micromangament thing goes both ways: Perhaps you're the boss that doesn't trust their people to do it right [implicitly or explicitly], or create a situation for your employees where everyone is constantly fighting fires (short-term projects) instead of tending to mid to long term objectives. (When "mid term objective" might even mean "a week from now"... depending on how bad it is).
So, even if you're not an employee who needs micromanagement, you may get it.
Then, someone remembers about the X project, suddenly, and it's a big emergency (and probably the employee's "fault", because it "was on your list of responsibilities".
I agree that communication should be clear, but even when it is sometimes you get called on the carpet for not doing that task you were not given time to do. (Although another commenter suggested getting things in writing... which might help.)
- boss does not know how to manage my time. one day he doesnt give any projects then he yells nothing was done then he gives out hundreds of long projects and expect to be done right away. - boss tells you friday morning that there is this huge project we need to finish by tuesday so no weekend (on paper i work in office mon-fri) and no holiday. then leaves to see one of his girlfriends in the middle of the day comes back 3 hours later - boss tells you that people work 20% more time than you and in next 5 days if that would be any other company you would work 100 hours (and he is being serious) - boss has his bonus structured accordingly to his hours he put into work. he constantly brags that he works until 1am and you leave at 8pm, despite that your working hours are 8-5 (when you reply you have family thats is wife and kids, he replies, well maybe you have a point i dont have a family, but when he says that he is proud of it). - you leave for a lunch break for 30 minutes and your boss tells you not a good idea - "look at me, I never eat during the day, so why would you?"
and so on. so you, I would loove to have one more extra project to do, wrap it up over the weekend within couple hours and go home to kids and wife.
Unfortunately, what I gather from the behaviour of my peers is that they lack the spine to do so. They can't muster the courage to draw a line in the sand.
So they keep picking up assignments, fail to do them adequately, and need to perform heroics to cover their ass till some other guy comes along to save them.
Ironically, some of them wonder why they keep getting passed up for promotion. I don't have the heart to tell them why.
This was after I spent 3 months (and many long and unpaid hours) saving the company $50K/year. When I was finished, I got reamed in a 2+ hour meeting for not working on the boss's pet projects (even after I explained to him many many times exactly what I was doing and why I couldn't work on his other projects). The problem is that I've seen too many people in upper-management that do things like this. It's why I decided to finally start my own company.
Some people are just not logical and make decisions based on pure emotions. I would have quit on the spot, but I wanted unemployment, so I intentionally made things difficult until I was laid off a month later.
My exit strategy worked.
one thing I truly learnt from a situations like this is always expect the worse. for example: my boss yelled at me that a project is not finished. so I told him OK i will work this weekend to finish it. then next day he replied: spend weekend with family you work so hard. so I did. oh naive me. Monday comes and I am being yelled at that project is not completed. But you told me to spend time with family. - well, you should weight whats more important my advice to spend time with family or complete project that would make me and managment happy.
I will quit eventually, but the job is extremly well paid (makes me feel like a bitch I know), and there is no way I can get something similar for this salary (average for my work is 60% less). Thats probably a trick when someone offers you way more money than your job is reasonably worth.
Document everything, so that he can't take it beyond yelling. And consider yourself an actor, or an actor-in-training. You sit there and take it until "they yell cut", and let it roll off you without soaking in.
And... if he's going to find something to yell about, regardless, then indeed, spend the weekend (and evenings, etc.) with your family. Fuck him.
P.S. Have some networking in place and prospects cooking, for if and when one of you has had enough.
P.P.S. The more you stand up to a bully, the more -- often -- they actually end up respecting you (and acting in a more reasonable manner). It's not guaranteed, but it's worth exploring.