A Crazy Idea Results in Lots of Work (By Others)

It all starts with a crazy idea by upper management. A simple thought on a napkin can result in hours of work by others.

The person on the top didn’t get to that position by providing run-of-the-mill ideas. With that said, it is also obvious that these ideas don’t justify themselves. Someone has to do the legwork.

I was recently assigned the task to back-up one of these ideas. As the chain-of-command determined which team should be responsible, it eventually fell on me. Through an email, I could see the task bounce around all the way to the bottom… to me.

If only there were vacation giveaways.

Now don’t get me wrong, ideas spur innovation. The problem is, you have to go through a lot of different ideas to really find one that works. This means there is a lot of work done to support ideas that in the end, will not be put to use.

And of course, some ideas are better than others. Even if it seems impossible, the legwork and fetching must be done.

Good Boy! Go get that information!

At the end of the day, it’s of course better to be working on these mini-projects rather than not working at all. But damn it, sooner or later people are going to catch on and start calling me Fido. No one wants that.

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Posted by Reply All on Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 6:48 am
Filed under Articles - Humor, Wednesday Whine Sessions · Tagged with Chain-of-command, fetching, Fido, Ideas, Innovation, Plinko, Upper Management