Me: soooo can you get this done by next week?
Other dev: well who knows what rabbit hole I'll fall down. There's no way to tell.
Me: can you just avoid falling down a rabbit hole? We have a deadline.
Other dev: oh ya there's no way to know for sure.
Me: ....... Can you please try harder
Other dev: I'm trying I can't.
Me: ................

At least s/he is being honest ☝️

@CurseMeSlowly you know, that's a pretty good perspective actually. I don't necessarily like the outcome but at least I know what I can expect and who I can count on.

@meowth yes it is worse when they said yes yes yes and not delivering 😬

I mean I feel sorry for you.... But I'm usually the "other dev"

Its amazing how things can be going well and on time just to find out there were edge cases that need to be taken care of which can take a lot more time then the other 90% of the milestone.

Honestly though, there is a way to compartmentalize. You can indeed time box and pivot and change tactics in a way that prevents you from falling into a major time suck. My complaint is when folks can't figure out how to do that and they only have 1 mode of operation. The right way to do things is BS, it doesn't exist, it's a fucking illusion. Pragmaticism above all else.