Ever thought about what "SNAFU" means? I mean, really thought about it?

Back at work. Rested, relaxed, invigorated. On top of things. Taking charge and making progress. Tackling nitpicky problems with a fresh eye.

Hah.

While I was away the blackmail project moved more quickly than I expected and another writer had to review it a bit. Yesterday I spent more than half my time on the blackmail project and the minor project. The doomed project needed more work and is the higher priority, but I could catch up on those two relatively quickly before moving on to the big job, so I did - signed off on the peer review on the blackmail project, and went to a minor project meeting and made certain changes as requested.

Still working hard on the doomed project. Sure enough, it was a busy, important time for the project while I was away. As I predicted, though, the higher-ups reviewing the document didn't finish by Wednesday as planned, so that made things a bit easier for J., the backup tech writer. In fact, they still haven't finished. Of seven reviews, we have only six, one of those came in today and was still in a rougher state than we expected. So I've done all I can and am working on cleaning up side issues while we wait.

But what can you do about it when a higher-up doesn't do their job? I can't think of anything, other than making sure your own ass is covered and working around it as best you can.

(In fairness, no doubt the people in question wouldn't see these problems as not doing their jobs. No doubt they'd say some problems were unavoidable technical issues no one should be blamed for, and some weren't their jobs, they were just favors or not even issues they were aware of. But now I'm violating my resolutions against either extending too much goodwill or being too long-winded or both. So, hell with it, the latest problems with the doomed project are all the fault of the people whose reviews were late and/or incomplete and they should feel bad for it.)