Paul Dix Gets It
Today I caught a post on Paul Dix's blog that made reference to my item on 11 Clients You Need to Fire Right Now. It's always nice when a smart guy like Paul mentions something I wrote (thanks, Paul!), but even better was his account of firing himself from a project before it even happened! It sounds like Paul is working close to capacity, and turned down what looked to be a perfectly fine project for fear of not being able to devote the appropriate time to it. In Paul's own words:
Like many programmers I often get into the position of overextending myself. Not this time. This time I decided not to over-promise. This time I decided to be realistic. This time I realized that I have enough on my plate. This time I realized that taking on another project may cause me to shortchange all of them.
Make no mistake - that is professional-level thinking. And that is the kind of thinking that will gain our profession the respect that it often lacks from clients and employers. I'm pleased to hear that not only is a fellow developer wise enough to avoid a no-win situation with regard to being over capacity, he is also doing well enough to be able to turn down work. I may preach about best practices when it comes to managing some projects and cutting others loose, but I haven't forgotten that turning down or terminating a project is much more difficult when you're down to your last $50 and have no groceries in the kitchen.
Good show, Paul!
Has anyone else recently avoided or terminated a no-win project? Let's hear your stories!
edit: Sanjeev has started a discussion of this topic in the forum, since I forgot to post it myself.
