I once read a bizarre statement, written by an overloaded IT manager. He was complaining about the heavy workload his executive management was throwing on him. Here is what he said:
When a new project request comes down, I just ignore it. I ignore it until management makes it clear my job depends upon it.
Wow! That’s revealing! Evidently, this poor soul is so swamped with exciting new projects that he is forced to ignore the bulk of them. I can vividly see how these superfluous demands go down.
First, the executives get a great idea. Yeah! Let’s restructure the customer database to maximize the communication [read: spam] we send out. We’ll get some great sales!
The project is handed off to Harold in IT. “He’ll make it happen,” the suits say.
Harold comes in Monday morning, sorts through 400 spams, and finds the outlandish request. He rolls his eyes and drops it into the “Oh Boy!” folder. And then he checks the ESPN stats.
The execs never give the project another thought. They just go off and reinvent the company ten more times, dumping an equal number of requests on poor Harold. And he ignores them all. He doesn’t have time for the fun. He’s got real work to do.
Am I off? Got it all wrong? Honestly, I don’t think so. I’ve seen numerous projects like this get swept under the rug. Execs don’t run the show, the little guy does…
–ray