Yesterday morning, A. came into my office to tell me there was an enormous - like 300-page - document that was going to cross my desk for review late in the afternoon or early this morning. It's due out this coming Wednesday, which is more time than I usually get. I thanked her and assured her that I'd be ready to work on it.

A little while before lunch, A.'s boss, C., came into my office to tell me, in something of a panic, about a software release that was supposed to go out by close of business today. They hadn't started testing yet, but when they did, I needed to verify the testing so I could sign off on the release.

Though he didn't say it like that. After two more panicky visits from him, I went to the manager for that project, H., and talked to her. H. told me what was going on and rolled her eyes about C.'s panic, and promised to give me all the support I needed.

Then she told me that, along with the software, we were also releasing a number of document changes, which would need to be reviewed before they went out. Some of them, also, were longish documents, and one of them includes a file listing of the software, which means I have to go through file by file and make sure the listing in the document matches the actual listing, including date/time stamp and file sizes.

The first fifty pages or so of the 300-page document that isn't due out until next week hit my desk half an hour before I left work yesterday. At that time, the testing for the software hadn't been started yet (they were struggling with getting the printer to work) and the other documentation was still in some sort of limbo.

This morning, it turns out that the 300-page document also has to be reviewed by two other people (the author and its project manager) before it can come to me, so I may not get the rest of it for a while. Which is fine, since I have three other documents and this software testing to review. None of which have crossed my desk yet, either.

Here's a bet for you: I bet I still spend half the day twiddling my thumbs.

--Liz