Really nice post and completely resonates with my experience.
Dealing with squeaky wheels is especially challenging once you’re in a position where it’s known you have lots of good connections. There are just a lot of people very committed to their own advancement for its own sake who will nominally jump through whatever hoops you put in front of them even though you doubt they will put the connections they want to good use for the world. Getting good at saying no without being mean or cagey is a real skill.
Absolutely agreed. One effective approach is to create requirements that provide inherent value and enable community feedback. For instance, ask them to write up their ideas in a public forum post and include an ask about whether others are working on similar projects or would find the work valuable.
This serves as both a filter (if others people respond and say this work wouldn’t be useful or someone else is already covering it, then you have a graceful way to say no) and be a useful contribution to the community.
Really nice post and completely resonates with my experience.
Dealing with squeaky wheels is especially challenging once you’re in a position where it’s known you have lots of good connections. There are just a lot of people very committed to their own advancement for its own sake who will nominally jump through whatever hoops you put in front of them even though you doubt they will put the connections they want to good use for the world. Getting good at saying no without being mean or cagey is a real skill.
Absolutely agreed. One effective approach is to create requirements that provide inherent value and enable community feedback. For instance, ask them to write up their ideas in a public forum post and include an ask about whether others are working on similar projects or would find the work valuable.
This serves as both a filter (if others people respond and say this work wouldn’t be useful or someone else is already covering it, then you have a graceful way to say no) and be a useful contribution to the community.