Xjyuk

I am PI (Principal Investigator at University) of some projects (funded my H2020 grants). Some technicians have been hired to support the projects. I gave them the project proposal document so that they can see what the "big picture" is and the main objectives. The project is to run for 4 years. In day to day operations, new tasks are defined depending on previous results.

When I tell one of the technicians to do these tasks, she complains approximately 50% of the time because she thinks the task is not necessary or asks me if there is no other option to avoid this. Then I need to argue and explain all pros and cons. In the end she does the tasks. From one side I find it OK to argue about this, because I might be wrong and this can help me to better think and later explain my ideas - not to technicians but to students - but from the other side this requires extra time that I do not always have.

On days when I have low energy, I do not tell her what needs to be done; I prefer instead to wait until the next day, because I start to see that we will spend an hour arguing unnecessarily about the tasks. In addition she has a contract with my academic institution and she is paid by the project to do the tasks. So in the end I think not so much arguing would be needed and that she should not be irritated by all this.

Sometimes I feel I am trying to be nice to everybody and this is the main cause of the problem. But I do not want to be a dictator as well.

How can I better handle this situation?

You dont want to stop her from asking questions because thats how accidents happen. You said that it helps you in one way and makes you think and thats a good thing and the only problem you have is with energy. If shes getting the job done and you don't always have energy than you can just tell her that you don't have the energy. When you do have the energy you can listen. Thats how my one boss always did it.

Ahh, the old, "I'm the boss, but I want to be your friend" situation.

I will tell you to answer your question directly without context, then try with context.

Namely, Be the boss and not their friendly coworker. Tell them this is the job you have for them and thats it. They are paid to do what you say and be done with it.

But own up to your foreseeable failures.

Now with some discussion.

It is certainly difficult to work on projects at the university when dealing with all the hubub, students and coworkers sometimes.

I feel this is because of a general "us against them" attitude. Namely, the Phd's against the students, and the technicians against the Phd's and etc etc.

What also isn't helpful is the general relaxed work life at the university...there isn't the same kind of time schedule pressure like there is in the industry...until there is.

I have been in this exact situation, however on the side being the technician. Constantly arguing over things to do, mostly because my boss had no idea what or how to achieve any given task, except for the theory they learned along their educational path. While I have spent close to a decade working with a trade before entering academics....

Both of us knew what we were doing. One of us had experience making them in real life, while the other had experience doing the maths (to generalize the situation) of it....so as frustrating as it is to be on your side. It's equally as frustrating being on their side listening to someone go on about something they themselves couldn't bring to reality.

There is something I want to point out that is important that isn't clear amoung academics. There is an entire science to making and it often doesn't jive with theory.

A well trained technician or tradesperson should have learned along their studies how to predict failure. I find this is often lacking in academics..."if we do this, the math says it'll work"

To quote Adam Savage:

The only difference between a master tradesperson and a novice, is the
novice has yet to learn when something is going to fail, how to
avoid it, and if need be, how to cheat to cover it up.

Your technician when given a task, should be trying to see what happens after said task is done. This is going to naturally cause a discussion. One you seem to not want to have..but you honest to god just have to suck it up and deal with it.

I am a professional in what I do. If I'm tasked with something, It's going to be clearly defined, and it will be completed to that exact specification given. But if your specifications are just garbage, or don't make sense to me for related tasks down the road related to the project. I will want to know why you reason it must be done that way, and I'm going to not want to do it, cause it's gonna cause problems for me later.

I will argue that it's stupid if that doesn't make sense in the long term. A tradesperson who doesn't care, or bother finding out the whole picture isn't in my opinion worth their salt.

A professional who knows their stuff I trust to tell me when I'm requesting nonsense, and this is something you simply have to learn to work with.

There are boundaries to this. Depending on your assignment, if it's simply making something quick, or something is unimportant, well you can simply tell your coworker, you're the boss and you want this done, no discussion.

If your coworker does this with all tasks, it may not be a sign of professional wisdom, but laziness...and laziness shouldn't be tolerated and this requires being a firm, foot down kind of boss.

But if these discussions are legit from their side. Well there is nothing to do but learn to discuss, or back up with clear, thought out reasonings why this task needs to be done and be prepared to defend it.

Regardless of what happens, if you do make a decision and your technician said it was going to fail, and it does. You have to own up to it.

Would it require less energy from you if the extended discussion were conducted through email? I find that FTF conversations tend to drain my energy, whereas (perhaps because I'm more comfortable as a writer than a conversationalist) I can pour a lot of time into email arguments without feeling exhausted or discouraged.

Part of that may be because I am not "on the spot". I can answer at my leisure, giving me time to think carefully about what I mean to say. If the email arrives at an inconvenient time, I can simply put it off until it is convenient to answer.

It is also a lot harder for people who tend to use sheer volume to "win" arguments, or who want to argue just to be arguing, to waste my time or take advantage of the fact that I don't like to be too assertive.

Another benefit might be to reduce the amount of arguing that she does. If comes into the discussion looking for an argument, perhaps because she is upset due to stresses outside the workplace, an email discussion would make a less satisfying outlet than FTF, and it might cause her to direct those impulses elsewhere.

If you think she would take it well, you might be frank with her and tell her that although you value her feedback and insights, the discussions which you have are taking up too much of your day. You might ask for her suggestions as to how to deal with that problem. Or you might simply move on to explaining that you will be sending out task assignments via email.

If you don't want to seem to be targeting her, you could just change policy and maybe send out a list of proposed tasks prior to the meeting and ask for any feedback before the meeting, so as to save time (you didn't mention whether she argues during the meetings or in private). If she insists on arguing in person, tell her "those are all valid arguments, please write them up and send to me so I can look at them when I have time)

All this is translated in that the days I have low energy, I do not tell her what needs to be done, I prefer instead to wait until the next day, because I start to see that we will spend one hour arguing unnecessarily about the tasks.

Quite simply, she is taking advantage (don't have a better wording) of your availability to have an argument with you. There can be good and bad reasons for this, and because you cannot be too sure, and you want to be nice to her, you usually engage in discussing.

But if this preoccupy you to the point you are exhausted and avoid her, that means this situation is problematic. There surely can be a middle ground where you are able to dispose of your time the way you want without being a dictator. One way or another, she probably need a gentle reminder that your time isn't granted.

An initial tactic could be postponing these discussions to a later date where you feel more prepared. She might also have more structured, simpler questions once given time to think about it. You can also be a bit harsher and decline discussion by pretexting you are exhausted or have other matters at hand, without proposing to postpone. If both of these weak messages don't reach target, you can have a discussion with her about her behavior, trying to listen to her reasons, and explaining to her the situation, that you need tasks to be done and don't have the time to discuss it every time.

Here’s a possibility: The technician acts this way because she wants to look interested in the work (instead of just doing as she’s told), and it looks to her as if you appreciate this attitude because you explain things carefully to her. Your views and your actions are contradictory.

So the next time when she complains, you just say: “Can you just do it the way I asked you do do it?” See what happens. If you are lucky, she just walks away happily and does her job.

Some things i would try:

• Give her the task in writing, so she can't immediately complain


• Explain your thought process how you came to this solution, so she can see which parts you considered and what you missed


• ask her for clear feedback what you maybe missed and how she would solve it


• read those answers carefully and then start the next iteration with an improved task

This way you will both learn a lot about the other domain and it will long term reduce the discussions because you know the other person well enough to understand their thinking.

Also as you say it helps in understanding the problems better and explaining them later on to other people.

I would also recommend using some tool that is lighter than email, maybe trello or jira.

Can you stagger things? Have a meeting where she discusses the previous task, then you bring up the new task. Tell her she needs to do it, then tomorrow you can discuss over anything she might find with it before bringing up the new task.