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Whyyyy does my brain not want to work todayyyy when I have so much work to doooooo
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ADHD is for the fuckin birds dude
de borel
lack of prioritization? If you have a ton and they're all on fire, it makes the adhd ping off the walls
de borel
It's like if everything is "critical" then nothing is critical, because you are one person
de borel
So something needs to be shuffled to be the absolute most critical at the top so you can dig into that and then move to the next
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That is quite literally exactly what is happening
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And my brain is like 
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Because all three projects I’m working on are both critical and time sensitive and need to be done Right Now
de borel
(If you've done this already feel free to ignore but this is what I have personally struggled with at jobs when I get saddled with 3-5 tasks that all need to be done "ASAP")
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I only have so many arms and a brain that works just okay let me liiiiiiive
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Oh no dude you’re real as fuck
de borel
Yup so idk how much juggling you get with the stakeholders but they need to talk to each other if they haven't already
de borel
To determine "hey project A is saying it's critical but project B is also saying that, as well as project C. I'm one person and will not have the time or capacity to work these with the attention to detail they require. You all need to actually determine what gets bumped in favor of the MOST CRITICAL"
de borel
Like unless they're leaving it in your hands to make the call on what's most critical but I doubt that will make them super delighted
de borel
There's "I'm letting this person decide on priority and/or understanding they can prioritize like an adult" VS "I've not spoken to my other depts and we've all decided on critical priorities or dates without knowing it will bottleneck at one person"
de borel
I see the latter all the time with my job and it's a workflow/communication problem they have to address
de borel
Even if this is a "one off" situation, it will set a precedent that they're allowed to not talk to each other or understand the workflow does get bottlenecked
de borel
Which means it can and will happen again, even if by sheer accident
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No, my manager prioritizes my work, in all fairness
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But that doesn’t change the fact that All This Needs To Be Done Yesterday, either, because it’s all important
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It is not normally this bad 
de borel
Then your manager needs to get on board with understanding how much work this is and/or giving you a very clear breakdown of what realistically should be tackled first
de borel
If it's the 16pg thing because in context that one will net X income from a project or has specific govt policy deadlines, whatever, then that should be clear
de borel
I don't think it's unreasonable to ask your manager "hey all three of these have to be done but what do I need to focus on FIRST, because having all three at "number one" is not helping me understand where my focus should go"
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She is having me work on the 16 page thing. But there’s a 108 page thing for the same project that has to get done, and the 40 page thing is for a different project that she just fucking neglected to tell me last week needed to be finished and sprung it on me like an hour ago
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She thought I worked on the 40-page thing Friday when I CLEARLY TOLD HER I was working on the 16/108
de borel
And realistically your manager should also be pushing back on massive overlapping deadlines and asking the stakeholders "if all three are due on the same day and you're giving us two days to work this, you have to decide what doesn't get done because this is not fair planning"
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Its infrastructure. Deadlines are brutal.
de borel
I'm not arguing against the deadlines, it's the communication of them, as well as how soon or not soon things are getting to your plate
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Yeah.... my manager fucked up not communicating to me what needed to be done with the 40 page doc
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So that’s getting done tomorrow and I don’t give a fuck
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I have no. Fucking idea. When I’m gonna fit in this 108-page beast.
de borel
So if all three projects were well known in advance but they handed things over to you with only a week notice, they did not build in enough time for review
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Bad Brain is making the 16 page document an all-day affair. I have 25/40 done for that one, but 15 pages is still 15 pages.
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de borel
: correct!
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There never is 
ⲣⲓⲣⲣⲓⲉ
My manager has tried to get people to be better/have more realistic expectations on turnaround times but
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Shrug emoji
de borel
Right, and I think giving your manager some very serious "hey I have capacity for this 16pg thing and 40pg thing tomorrow but I do not know how this 108pg thing will get done, is there any way something can give"
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....................... I can ask, but I do not think so. I will go around her to the marketing specialist who needs it and ask her directly how soon she needs it. If she gives me till later in the week then my manager can’t complain.
de borel
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: yeah the TAT thing is a skill. I like to use the dropoff method which is literally having a list of priorities (let's say top three) and any time they mention there's a new priority that's high, ask which of the other three priorities is now getting bumped
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My manager has managed me since lassssssst October? So she’s still learning my TAT. She has an okay sense of it, but for really really long docs one or even two days isn’t really feasible
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40 PhD is something I can manage on a good day and it is not a good day
de borel
As well as getting the stakeholders to understand the context of how much work it actually is, because it isn't just you looking it over, it's you reviewing and returning the feedback and probably needing another set of edits
de borel
I would still say the "asking the marketing person directly" is something that should be your manager's job if she is responsible for your prioritization
de borel
She should be asking that question of the person, not just insisting 40pgs should be done by tomorrow alongside everything else
de borel
But also even with your manager being here since Oct, it's not your TAT she hadn't learned, it's asking the right questions to the right people to get an actual sense of priority
de borel
I'm not saying this to try and make things more stressful since you've got a lot on your plate. But, from the outside looking in, if your manager is the person giving you priorities, then she needs to be taking the responsibility that implies
de borel
Which means asking after the right people to see where things stack up, pushing back when there's a lot of things happening and/or continually checking in with you to understand "hey this is 40pgs but it's for this kind of doc, how much of a lift is this for you?"
de borel
It's project management 101. Which she is a not a PM but managers typically need to have that skill somewhere if there's no dedicated PM for your team
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.... is that what it’s like to have a supportive manager who fights for you ... damn ...
de borel
She's there to protect your time so you CAN get your shit done without being driven in circles by conflicting projects. Again, even if this is not the norm, it's bound to happen again by accident and should be planned for accordingly
de borel
Yeah and if she's not fighting for you, I would personally not hold back in giving her that feedback LMAO
de borel
I don't care how new or not new someone is, these are management skills she should have come with
de borel
That is what a good manager should come prepackaged with. Clarity, transparency, consistency.
de borel
Lots of managers just think it's easy shit and telling people what to get done but they're emotionally and intellectually lazy
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she and I used to fight a lot. Idk if I wanna go back to that. I feel so overwhelmed today
she and I used to fight a lot. Idk if I wanna go back to that. I feel so overwhelmed today
de borel
It shouldn't be super difficult but it should be "difficult" because why else do they fuckin get paid so much for
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God. I know, right.
ⲣⲓⲣⲣⲓⲉ
I swear I’m hearing what you’re saying, my brain is just operating at like 5% focus power for some reason so ill probably come back to reread this later for your very sensible advice
de borel
Nah bro you've got your brain on fire because of tasks, so no worries
de borel
If you do end up fighting her, bring receipts. "Here's our conversation where you didn't tell me this deadline and therefore stacked it on top of everything else", "here's how I went and solved the priority problem by going around you, for a task you should have been doing if you're taking responsibility for my priorities"
de borel
It's managing upwards which my friend, fucking blows. If you do confront, make sure it's recorded or on record by following up with an email to say "we had this discussion, we talked about this, you disagreed with me on X despite my logical ask"
de borel
Like I don't want to get anyone fired in this economy but bad management makes me want to yell at the top of my lungs lmao