Jason Thistlethwaite
1.5 KiB
Project that sporadically gets attention but never seems to move forward, as if it's neither really alive or dead.
Example
Tom and Jerry keep talking about making homemade pizza on a Friday.
Several times, they have each shopped for pizza ingredients, but nobody has successfully made a pizza. They have spent a lot of time or money on it though.
They both know about it, but neither of them can make a concrete decision about either definitely making the pizza or deciding not to make pizza. It just sort of hangs around on the eventual todo list, without ever being canceled or completed.
Common cause
Inability to make a decision or adhere to one. Nobody is in charge of the situation or can call any shots about it, and there is an underlying competition or misalignment about resource allocation or plans nobody is deciding about.
Other causes
1) Chaotic environments and context switching
The environment we’re in is too chaotic for any plans to work.
2) Shifting requirements
We can’t make progress because the nature of the work keeps changing.
3) Avoiding conflict
One or more people involved don't really want to do the work, but they're avoiding saying so in order to avoid confrontation.
For example, Tom and Jerry often talk about going on a fishing trip together, but Tom actually doesn't like fishing with Jerry for some reason. Rather than explain why he doesn't like fishing with Tom, he just always has some reason he can't go.