A warning about the 'urgent' project that blew up my entire week

Two weeks ago, my director dropped a 'top priority' report on my desk on a Tuesday, saying we needed it for a board meeting Friday. It needed data from three other teams who were already swamped. By Wednesday, I was pulling 14 hour days just to get basic numbers, and the requests kept changing. The worst part was on Thursday, when the director's assistant came by and said, 'Actually, the board moved the meeting to next month, but can you finish the draft anyway?' I spent the whole week stressed and missing my own deadlines for nothing. The project wasn't urgent, it was just poorly planned. It made me realize I need to push back harder when the timeline makes no sense. Has anyone else had a 'critical' task get quietly shelved after you killed yourself to finish it?

2 comments

2 Comments

wright.michael4d ago

Hate when that happens. Feels like they just wanted to see you run in circles.

barbara_hall94d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, it's like a weird power move some people make. Just makes you feel small on purpose.