Baseball Teams

Ever have one of those days?  Well, I am halfway thought my second week of those days.

This morning, I was trying to think of an analogy of what is the current situation going on within my group at work, so please try to follow along.

Imagine you are on a baseball team.  Your team has been awarded a new stadium, but you need to win a bunch of games first.

The first problem is that there are currently 3 players on your team, instead of the standard 9.  This is OK, you just  have to play 3 positions at a time.  You are told there will be new players coming, so eventually you will have help.  However, these new players have never even heard of "baseball" so you have to teach them how to play the game, in addition to playing your other positions as well. (Side note: They will also be signed to bigger contracts than you currently have!)

Now a baseball team is typically led by a coach.  This team has 12 coaches.  There are senior coaches, assistant coaches, and even a player coach or two.

These coaches want to win really bad, but don't want to be responsible for a loss.  They schedule lots of team meetings to tell you how important winning is.  However, they will not tell you the schedule of games, nor set a line-up.  Sometimes you find out you are playing a triple-header that day, other times you prepare for an upcoming game only to find out you are playing a different team, someplace else.

Lastly, imagine you are playing this game, and you are up to bat.  You look down third base line and see your coaches all standing there.  Each one is giving you a different signal.  One says "bunt" and another "swing" with a third signaling "hot dog".  It is up to you to interpret these signals, and make the right decision.  Choose incorrectly, and the loss is all your fault.  Choose correctly, and your coaches get closer to the coach of the year award, and you get to repeat the process for another game.

Some days you just hope you get hit by a pitch....