Weekend Plans Post: Beginning the Silly Part of the Season

Around this time of year is when it starts getting dumb at work. PMs worth a darn know that they should not have any deadlines between around December 16th and January 5th or 6th (at the *EARLIEST*).

I remember one year that I was sitting at my desk on the 23rd (and it was like a Friday), doing my patch prep, getting the stuff I was going to need for the big trip that was coming up and it was just me and the CEO sitting in the office and he looked at the clock and then turned to ask me “Jaybird, when are you going to be done?”

“In about an hour, sir.”

“When is it due?”

“January.”

“Here. Use this charge code. Have an hour on me. Let’s go home.”

And I got to go home! That was one of the best Christmas breaks ever.

Well, I was planning on the tempo slowing ever so slightly, looking at my task list that usually had about a dozen things on it turn into a task list with maybe a half dozen things on it, the ability to say “hey, you wanna actually take our lunch instead of working through it?” to my boss and maybe going home an hour early on this or that Friday.

Well, of course, another team called my boss’s boss’s boss and said “we have an emergency, we need Jaybird and Jaybird’s boss. And we need them to work overtime. A *LOT* of overtime. Like until the middle of January.” Like, they asked for me by name.

We hammered out that various people had vacations scheduled or merely some days off where nothing was planned but sleeping without an alarm clock, fuzzy clothing, and taking it easy. Cooking some stuff, playing some games, maybe watching a movie or three.

They assured us that we could still have our time off… but they needed us to work a *LOT*. Like, they asked for a bunch of people and the compromise was them willing to accept me and my boss.

Instead of winding down, the tempo is increasing. And I may be working this weekend. Because it’s an emergency. Sigh.

So… what’s on your docket?

(Featured image is “Bliss”. Taken by Maribou.)