How would you handle this situation?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My old boss has asked me to produce some maps for a report he’s writing for the agency he has a contract with. This is a major report summarizing three years worth of data–data that is almost literally soaked with my sweat, tears, and blood. While I was working for him, I made it a focus to make all of our contract deliverables heavy with them since everyone–but especially non-scientists–grasp complex ecological information when it is presented in maps rather than in dry charts and tables. Plus, our use of geostatistics required that we make sophisticated maps, and I was at the helm of this effort, as the project manager. Not to brag, but my work was considered impressive enough that it was used as model that other contractors were strongly encouraged to follow. My boss liked this a lot, but I knew he took for granted how much work this entailed. That’s why, right before I left I took upon myself to create a training CD so that my successors could pick up where I left. I walked my boss through it, but it didn’t stick.

The problem is that it’s been almost five months and he still hasn’t found someone with a GIS background to replace me. He has a report due early next week and he needs maps. So he asked me to make a couple.

That doesn’t sound like a lot of work, but it actually is. For one thing, I don’t have ArcGIS on my computer; I have to connect to a remote server that likes to kick me off quite frequently (Citrix, how I hate thee). No matter how anal I am about saving, I still manage to lose work when this happens. The remote connection also means that the program speed is slow, so that the simplest command takes minutes to execute. The last time he asked me to make some maps (a couple of months ago), I had to stay up to one in the morning for two nights straight.

Because he’s never used the program before, he doesn’t know how it works. He doesn’t know that a single interpolation map of the Everglades is actually a composite of six smaller maps merged together, and that there’s more involved with making a map than just loading a file and pushing a button. If it was a simple cookbook process, everyone would be a GIS specialist.

So all day today I’ve been working on this stupid map. It’s a beautiful fall day and I’m sitting indoors, staring at the computer. Just like I do every day at work. Just like I’ll be doing tomorrow, too. It’s stuff like this that makes me depressed, seriously.

I know I’m whining and rambling, but I just need to know if I would be a jerk if I told my boss I don’t want to do this for him anymore, especially if I’m not getting paid. I’m going to make the two maps he’s requested because I said I would, but I have a sinking feeling that when I email him the jpgs, he’s going to politely and meekly ask if I could do something else. Maybe I’ll just ignore my emails for the next week or something.

The thing that makes it difficult is that we’re writing a paper together, a paper in which I will be first author. But he’s the “superstar”, who’s name alone will help me get published in an impressive journal. So I can’t be the asshole that I wish I could be with him.

What would you do, if you were me?

2

You don’t have the equipment required to do it, so why not tell him so?

3

Maybe you could let him know just how much work it is for you, and that you’re going to be taking a little break for a while. Pretty much everything you’ve just told us, but without calling him stupid.

4

Consultation fee and direct access to the necessary software?

5

We have a winner!

There is no reason for you to be putting in a lot of unpaid time on this, especially when you tried to teach him how to do it. If they are trying to hire someone to do it and haven’t found anyone, they have funds available to pay a consulting fee.

6

Sorry, I’m confused.

A bloke you don’t work for wants you to do a lot of work for him. :confused:
He never bothered with the training CD you previously made for him. :smack:
You don’t have the proper program or connection to do it easily. :rolleyes:
He will probably ask you to do something else for him too. :eek:
He doesn’t want to pay you. :mad:

But in exchange, he will let you put your name on a ‘joint’ paper.

Doesn’t he sound like the sort who will tell everyone it’s his paper and he just felt sorry for you?

As others have said, tell him your consultancy rates.
The reason you’re dperessed is that you know he’s exploiting you and that you’re letting him do it.

7

If it’s a joint paper, then there’s nothing he can do about it. So what if he IS the superstar? He’s can’t/won’t take you off the paper because he needs you to do the work. Try “Sorry, Mr. Smith. I worked for free once already and didn’t find it to my liking.”

8

First of all, I’d take a short break anyway, just to relax and re-centre yourself. You don’t make great decisions when you’re in a negative mood. Go for a ten minute walk. Watch something funny and have a good laugh. Go for a quick jog. Cook a nice meal. Feed the ducks. Do something to achieve a fresh cast of mind. If at all possible, put a good night’s sleep between you and the decision-making process.

Then come back to the decision, and ask your mind to do the best it can.

Next, I’d re-examine the premise involved in the question. Do you really need to sustain a co-operative relationship with this guy, predicated on the perceived advantange of his name and getting published? Do you know for sure that your hard work now will pay off as you anticipate? Do you know for sure that this is the other guy’s understanding as well, or might he take your hard work and then, for some reason, change plans re the publishing of the paper? Or, on the other side of the coin, are there other advantages that you can be reasonably sure might accrue from continuing to sustain this co-operative stance, ones you haven’t mentioned in your OP? Things in this life are very rarely one-sided, and it’s always easier and quicker to burn a bridge than it is to re-build it.

Then I’d get a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side, list the pros and cons of continuing to put up with this situation (a scenario that presumably hinges on this co-publishing plan). Include both factual and emotional aspects of the situation (feeling miserable or exploited or ‘it’s not fair’ are all things worth listing under the ‘cons’). On the other side of the line, list the pros and cons of seeking to change the relationship, such as submitting a paid consultancy schedule based on the going rate for this type of work (a rate that you can undercut a little if you want to be nice, or add to if you think you have the leverage to do so legitimately).

Look at the two sides of the piece of paper, and go in a mental time machine to a date two years from now. Looking back, which would have been the right choice? Then, in your mental time machine, come back to the present and make your choice.

Once you have made your choice, commit to it, stick with it, take the appropriate action(s) and forget about this decision - don’t keep re-visiting it round and round in your mind. (Of course, at some point down the line you can take a ‘how is this working out’ check and possibly go through a fresh decision-making process, but just don’t keep re-visiting this decision, here and now).

Don’t worry about making an imperfect decision. All decisions are made on the basis of imperfect data. Just trust yourself to make the best decision you can in the circumstances, and get on with it. So long as you can always look back and say, ‘I made the best decision I could make at the time’, that’s all that matters.

Finally, take responsibility for making your own decision. Own it and own the direction you take. If things turn out right, you can be pleased you took the right decision and give yourself the credit. If not, there will be some pain, but you’ll learn a lesson so you’ll be smarter and wiser and more experienced than you are now, and experience is everything in this life. Either result is good.

9

Thanks for all the advice. Especially yours, ianzin. I like the idea of drawing up a pro/con list and then looking into the future.

10

I think I would contact him ASAP and say that while you were willing to do some outside work to help him out the software is simply not cooperating and you will be unable to finish in the time you have. Remind him that he has the means to get this done and you don’t.

“I was willing to do this, but the software is making it impossible.” Repeat as necessary.

11

You said he is your old boss. Does your new boss know you’re using your energy to help this guy out? You might tell your current boss that you’re not happy doing this for the old boss anymore and maybe he could do the dirty work of telling him to get his new resources lined up. After all, if you’re depressed and burned out from this project, your existing position could suffer.

Any chance of you offering him some direction on how to find someone to replace you? Your work sounds very specialized…sounds like a very shallow pool to fish from.

Good luck.

12

The fact that you’re dong the maps for free makes you very, very nice. The fact that you are doing them over a remote connection makes you a saint. I’ve done a lot of GIS work myself, and almost no one really appreciates how time consuming and how difficult doing something that *seems *simple really can be. If it helps at all, you have my utmost sympathies!

Now, unless these maps are going into your joint paper, I think you need to make it clear to him exactly how long they took you, and that while you were happy to help out this one time, in the future your rate per hour will be ___. Remember, if he is using this in a consulting report, *he* is making money off *your* work. When you decide on your consulting rate, take the per hour you were making when you worked for him and double it. (Seriously. It’s not unreasonable.)

I think the key here is that your old boss finally learns how long GIS work actually takes. (And reducing it to a $ amount will definitely drive the message home.) The lesson will serve him well in the future.

13

As long as you’re doing his maps for free, he’s never going to find anybody else to replace you… but your situation goes beyond that. Even if you start charging him a token fee, as long as you’re doing his maps at below-market rates, he’s never going to hire anybody else for that job. The only solution I see is for you to charge an outrageous hourly fee, in addition to requiring him to provide a licensed copy of ArcGIS for your local machine.

I, too, loathe Citrix. I sometimes find myself commuting on weekends to avoid having to use it remotely. It’s an awful thing.

14

If I were you, I would make sure Bossman knew exactly where to put his maps, and how hard to shove them there. No equipment? No pay? No work. Slavery is illegal in this country.

ETA: I’m actually not trying to tell you this is what you should do, I’m just telling you what I would do in this situation–that is, I’m treating the OP as a poll.