August 20, 2010

“This project is a glue board trap.  The more I get involved, the less I want to be involved.”

We can detect them from miles away.  Yet, in an effort to help the others who are stuck in the mire, we approach with trepidation and fear.  The trap is obvious; however, the misery of those embedded therein is simply too much to bear.  We’re stuck.

One foot in to offer a modicum of assistance was our plan.  Three weeks of late nights and weekends later, we find ourselves fully ensnared.  The dragnet captures others as time drags on.  They had come to rescue us. 

Human kindness overcame common sense.  We couldn’t bear the thought of others suffering on the doomed project.  Could we save it?  Of course we couldn’t, but at least we could offer assistance to others caught in the subterfuge.  Now inveigled together, we suffer long and with great despair until the project dies. 

At some point during my lifetime, it became fashionable to impose interminable death on rodents.  We replaced the venerable mousetrap with sticky glue.  The big red “V” on the Victor traps so ubiquitous in years gone by is likely a brand few recognize in the same way today.

So it is with projects.  Rather than instantly killing those that become pests, we make them sticky.  Fortunately, I’ve yet to hear of anyone chewing off their arm to escape the glue of a doomed project.  Unfortunately, many get trapped uselessly.

One colleague aptly described his experience thusly, “This project is a glue board trap.  The more I get involved, the less I want to be involved.”

Adding insult to injury, his project death didn’t even include a nice piece of cheese or final taste of peanut butter.             

Craig Halsey

They Said It

August 20, 2010