Here's a tiny one from today. I don't think there's any danger of getting fired over it, but being in a sound position both in our finances and my skillset gave me some extra confidence.
I work for a small company, owned by two partners. Overall, it's been great. It's not perfect, though. Several years ago, one of the partners moved out of state. Out-of-state-partner (OOSP)
loves to be in the loop on everything. So when he hears about something for the first time, for example a product design change or a change in our manufacturing procedure, he wants to know all of the details, the rationale, the impact, etc. Were he here, he'd be aware of it all, but since he's 1500 miles away, his method of finding out is...to start peppering me with questions on Slack. To be clear, he doesn't
need this information. He's just satisfying his curiosity. Having an engineering background, he also feels the need to make all sorts of suggestions, never mind the fact that the engineering team has already brainstormed, researched, tested, settled on a solution, and implemented it.* He's a little bit like a
seagull manager at such times--we rarely interact until something piques his interest, at which point he pops up and wants to be involved.
The problem is that we have a lean engineering team. When OOSP moved, we were supporting a single product, and developing one new one. Now, we're supporting three product lines, and in the midst of developing
seven (if my count is right), with an engineering team that is only slightly larger than before. Simply put, I don't have a half hour or an hour to explain something just to scratch his itch. FWIW, in-state partner agrees.
Up until now, I've been willing to disrupt my flow to answer him. Not today:
OOSP: <quotes a line from my email> Tell me more?
Me: I don't have time to explain it right now
OOSP: does it <more specific, detailed question>
Me: <no response>
I was *very* tempted to repeat my first response, but figured that would be a step too far in the unprofessional direction, so I chose to simply ignore the question. OOSP can go chase another squirrel while he waits, and hopefully he'll forget.
* - and in the process, the engineers have already thought of his ideas, and know why they would or wouldn't work.