Last 5% or Last Mile Drag

I don't know why it irks me so much, but I hate it when people refuse to make a decision. Here's what's brought this to mind this time. 

We have a report that I want to finish up. I had intended to release this report in July or August, but it has taken my boss quite a while to provide her edits. It took, in fact, several months for her to get those edits to me. They were fairly extensive too, so it took me a bit to integrate them all. 

Once I did, though, I sent it to our designer, and boom, it was put into InDesign. Looks good too, but I found several edits that needed to be fixed. That happened twice. I had to go back and forth a few times with the designer, but overall it looked great. 

Then, all of a sudden, I got an email from the CEO's secretary. Our CEO had a couple of notes he wanted to be sure were integrated into the final report. One problem was that he had "noted" a version that was much older than the one we were currently working on. Secondly, I don't know where he got it. I don't remember giving it to him. And if I had, I would have given him the latest version. 

But that wasn't the part that upset me. What upsets me is that I input his edits, and now marketing wants to run it by him again, before they put the edits into the text. This is where I have trouble.

First, if I were a CEO, I wouldn't want to see a marked-up version of my edits asking if I approve of them. I'd just want them done and be able to move on. But now I think that marketing is scared of its own shadow. They're hesitant to move forward, and as a result, they're slowing down the pace of our development and publication. 

I also think that they don't like the number of edits that I'm requesting. For me, this is typical. Edits happen. It's an iterative process. 

I think my challenge is a lack of pulling the trigger. The last thing I would want is to get my edits back and have someone say, "Is this good before we put them in?" Just do it and move forward. 

Instead, this report has become a zombie project. It refuses to move forward, and the marketing department, instead of helping me move it forward, is finding reasons to stall. 

From a self-authorship perspective, I should realize that Marketing is in a tough spot with the COEO right now. I don't think the CEO likes the marketing team. I don't think he values them. Maybe it's for these same reasons? I don't know. But he's told me I should get what I want from them and own my projects. Hard to do when they keep putting up roadblocks. 

Then there is the I'm just getting ornery side of things. If I didn't want to deal with teams, I should have stayed with my own business. Secondly, in the grand scheme of things, I shouldn't worry so much. They're more on the hot seat than I am. 

I should just let them do their nonsense, and I'll keep making my studies bad ass.