But don’t quote me

I am looking forward to Scott Meyer’s upcoming book o’ cartoons. Here’s a recent favorite:

If you took only the two frames, darkened the hair, added pointiness, and removed the mustache… Yep.

El Jefe’s team spent several hours coming up with estimates for the Taj, in addition to occasionally coming in and asking me WTF, which was nice to hear. The guy who I directly sent a copy of my counter-proposal for the plumbing megaproject realizes he’s stuck in the middle. Since he reports to El Jefe, he’s stuck doing the exercise. Said he:

“I feel very uncomfortable having my estimate referenced in [the proposal I countered with]. I was asked to estimate the time required to plumb the Taj Mahal. [Yours, while reasonable,] is for something quite different.”

El Jefe’s people sometimes try to tell him he’s making a mistake, but he doesn’t hear them. Sigh… more anti-productivity. The best I could offer:

El Jefe went home early today, so no one knows what he decided to do with the inputs. He is presenting his recommendation on Monday. I realize your estimates are for the complete [Taj Mahal], and will correct him if he represents it otherwise.

Practically speaking, the “14 - 20 man years” will most likely strengthen the counter-case that building another McMansion is a terrible idea…  unless El Jefe’s goal is to drive the business into the ground, then it is a fantastic idea. Less likely, but still a possibility, is he’ll say “it cannot be that high because I am the VP of Yatta Yatta and I Know More Than You.”  Yes, he’s been here nearly two years and still couldn’t run our product, er, I mean repair a house.

I better channel my energy into reorganizing his division with the extra hour I have from Daylight Savings Time.