A better plan between you

Career · Little Light original

Your colleague wants more time to test. You want to keep the date you promised. By the third conversation, you have started describing each other as the problem: they are too cautious; you are too impatient. The project has become a contest neither of you intended to enter. Underneath the disagreement, there may be two responsibilities worth protecting. Someone must care about reliability. Someone must notice the cost of delay. Understanding both does not make the decision easy, but it gives you more to work with than deciding whose personality needs fixing. Perhaps a smaller release can be tested properly. Perhaps the date needs an honest revision. The useful answer may belong entirely to neither of you. There is professional strength in staying interested long enough to find it. You can defend an important concern without needing every part of your original proposal to survive. A good collaboration can leave you with better work, and a little more respect for the person who challenged you.

Little Light