The communication between Steven and Anna went from bad to worse. On top of that, Anna’s manager asked her to help out another team which had run into unexpected technical problems. Suddenly she had even less time to help Steven.
In the end, Anna did send over valuable data to Steve. But it was neither comprehensive, nor in depth, nor did it include the kind of insightful analysis that Anna was well-known for. All that takes time.
From Anna’s perspective Steven was sloppy in his work. And his constant and impatient follow-up got on her nerves, signaling to her that he had little confidence in her abilities. And the Smith-email to Habermas was very poor form. Professionals simply don’t do those kinds of things.
From Steven’s point of view Anna could have at a minimum sent partial results so that he could show progress. She also could have asked about the level of detail he needed. And her response time was just terrible. Anna had no sense of urgency!
It was a missed opportunity. For both sides.
Anna had become very interested in FastTrack, and in helping. Steven would have gotten first-rate data and analysis. Anna lost out, too. Had she continued, she would have gained Steven, Craig Smith and Mary Miller as friends and allies within the company.
The FastTrack-project lost out, too. It all could have been avoided. What a shame !
Questions
Was this all inevitable? Or could it have been avoided? If avoidable, how?
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