[edw519]

Don't hold a nebulous infinishable to-do list over his head to guilt trip him-- he will come down off of his creative high and beat himself up for being irresonsible and may even shut down emotionally.

Wow, I didn't even notice this one the first read. It's EXACTLY what I'm going through right now.

It's a test of wills. I'm in the middle of a huge rewrite of a critical app while they insist on bombarding me with minutia (digital whining) every single day. For the first time ever (with them), I refuse. "Live with it until after Labor Day; I'm busy." Stay tuned...

(Anyone looking for a good programmer?)

[mrtron]

I thought you were on your own already - or is this a contract?

Dealing with people is difficult - perhaps you could setup some sort of emailing ticket system where the minutia can go into queue. This way it will not interrupt your important rewrite or other pressing matters.

[edw519]

It's a contract.

Things change rapidly and these people understand how well some business problems can be addressed with technology. They also have a pretty good feel for what it will take. Their biggest problem is that they want everything now.

I have a habit of almost always saying "yes". But sometimes you just gotta say no. Not easy for anyone.

Hopefully, once I get this thing into production, I can go back to normal chaos mode :-)