Somehow, again, a 15 minute ‘catch-up’ meeting has ended in me leading, which is start-up lingo for being the only person working full-time on, a month long project. On paper I have no problem with it, it’s an interesting project and I may even learn a thing or two. The real killer though is that he only he only gave me two weeks to do it. I shouldn’t complain about this tight deadline though, as it will create a 14 week backlog rather than the potential 16 weeks should I be given sufficient time.
Sarcasm and joking aside, one thing I have certainly learned from my time here is the ability to prioritise. Despite the ever growing mountain of things on my ToDo list I still somehow find myself in a position where I have managed to deliver everything to spec and on time. Yet the innumerable unfinished reports, how-to guides and finished but yet ‘uncleaned’ code is beginning to occupy more and more of my peripheral, making it ever harder to ignore. The tricky part now isn’t necessarily finding the time to do it all, but convincing those who matter that it does in fact need to be done. It’s hard to convince someone that I still need two weeks to complete the admin for a project they haven’t even thought about for 6 months.
Despite this time delay I have no doubt that it all must be addressed soon. The longer it is left the more likely it will one day come stomping in like a spiteful ex seeking revenge for past neglect. The problem is I’m not entirely sure that the boss agrees. I mean he says he does, but how far can you trust a throw away ‘yeah, OK’. All I can do now is hope that a forgotten, and still unsolved, mistake doesn’t reappear in the middle of a vital project. But saying that we are a start-up, so are there really any other kind?
TALES FROM A START-UP 