[thelist] (no subject)

[C. Maynard]

Hey all--

I have a question and am hoping you can help provide some input.

I report to someone who isn't so hot on the people skills.
He wants excellent work in a time frame that just doesn't provide 
for it.  My response to this was usually to do everything I could
to meet his deadline and if that failed to just flat out tell him
it wasn't going to happen.

Recently, though, I tried something different: I was told to come
up with a reasonable scope of work that could be done in a given
timeframe.
So that's what I did: they told me I had two days to do something, along
with everything else I was working on.  I told them what I could get done.
They approved it, and I did my thing.  Two things happened:
First, the person who was supposed to finish up the project didn't do it
on time, so I didn't have time to test it.
Second, I went on vacation and the project was passed to someone
else.  That person made several good suggestions that were then
implemented.

Here's the problem: the guy has now decided that I absolutely don't
know what I'm doing, because clearly if these suggestions needed
to be made, I didn't do it properly to start with.
I knew they needed to be done, but they told me I had a very specific
amount of time, so I omitted them from the current version.

I know I told them that there were still things that needed to be
done, but all they remember is that I left for vacation and the
project was "a mess."

Now, of course it wasn't a mess.  It was an intermediary version.
And he's not a programmer so he wouldn't know.

But now I am having to submit daily task reports about what I do
with my time, he comes over and demands to know
why something took me four hours, etc.  It's hard to explain that
if you are going to do a good, thorough job, you can't do it in
thirty minutes.  He simply points to other people in the company
who can do it faster.  I have a difficult time saying, "Yes,
but have you looked at their code?  They may get it done, but
they make a holy living mare of a mess for anyone who has
to work with or read their code when they're done."

I've already submitted an analysis in which I stated, okay,
I need to get more information from you.  Clearly, the quality 
was more important than meeting the deadline.  This was not
made clear to me, but in the future I will be sure to get
this information from whomever is assigning me the task,
etc.  But the daily task reports and demands to know
why I am spending three whole hours setting up an entire
web site continue.

Is there something else I can do?  Do you have any suggestions?

Much appreciation,
-C