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Rant: The week my boss gave me 4 projects with the same due date
I had this one week in June where my manager dropped 4 big assignments on me all due on a Friday. He said "just prioritize" but didn't tell me which mattered most. I ended up working until 10pm three nights just to finish. Has anyone else had a boss pile on work without any clear plan?
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simon3785mo ago
Did you at least ask him straight up which project he cared about most? I had a similar thing happen last fall where my supervisor gave me three reports due on the same Monday, and when I asked for a priority list he just said "they're all important." I ended up pulling two all-nighters and still missed one deadline. It's like they think we can just magically clone ourselves or something.
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terry15mo ago
You said "they're all important" and that's exactly the problem right there. When a boss says that it usually means they don't actually know what's important themselves. So here's my question - did you go back to him after that answer and force him to pick one? Like, did you say something like "okay if all four are due Friday I can realistically finish two. Which two should I drop and plan to miss?" Because that's the only way I've found to get a real answer out of a manager who won't prioritize. It puts the ball back in their court and makes them admit something has to give. If you just nod and say okay, they'll keep piling it on forever.
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miawalker4mo ago
Why does pushing back always have to be about forcing a choice, though? @terry1, sometimes saying "which two should I drop" just makes you look difficult instead of getting a real answer, especially if your boss is the type who takes it personally. If everything is actually due, you just have to accept the grind and maybe ask for clearer runway next time instead of demanding they pick favorites.
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