Take the bloody shot already

Swedes are great people. When you look at the total package, they are my kind of people where it counts. Honest, reliable, and respectful of each other. Shame I had to wait 40+ years to experience such a culture. Exceptions to the rule, obviously, but overall they are a pretty good bunch.

There is, however, a chink in the armour. In the grand scheme of things it's not a major flaw. But it is an irritation. One of the great mysteries in life is how to get a Swede to make a decision and stick to it. Lovely people, but the most indecisive gaggle you could ever meet. If you ever want to see a case of group panic, put the Swedish football team in front of an open goal mouth. When it comes to sealing the deal there seems to ge a real fear of commitment. Maybe it stems back to those original positive qualities that I spoke of. Swedes generally don't like to stick out from other Swedes, possibly because they are worried that it might offend those around them. So they do nothing instead. Good intentions but it does make you want to smack a few heads together.

My current project at work is giving me the same grief. The project is divided up into 2 parts, with each part split into 2 stages. So 4 delivery packages. That's how it was in the beginning. The first package was delivered at the beginning of December, the second at the end of January, and the 3rd a couple of weeks back. The fourth package is due in about 2 weeks. To date, the client hasn't made a single decision with regard to the first 3 packages. The idea was to deliver in stages in order to avoid a huge bundle of decision making all at once. A huge bundle ? I'd settle for one.

Two months ago myself and a work colleague spent two days in a meeting with a "technical expert" to work through a number of project issues. At the end of the meeting we had reached agreement on all the issues we had in front of us. That was that. Or so I thought. Yesterday I arrived to work to be greeted by an email from the same expert. He "had been thinking" and wondered if it were too late to change some things. Too late ? It's already been built, mate. I'm pretty sure that qualifies as being "too late". It wasn't even as though he had unearthed a mistake, he just wanted to discuss it more. It left both myself and my colleague wondering if we had attended the same meeting two months earlier. Maybe it had all been a dream.

At some point people need to back themselves and trust their judgement. Yes, you can stress over the smallest detail forever, but it eventually comes down to risk and consequences. If Swedes could just learn to "have a go" then they might find that their lives suddenly become a little less stressful.