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Situation: On the 2nd of January I had a meeting with my supervisors and agreed on a new task list for the new year, one big task specifically assigned to be finished for end of first quarter (late March).

January 21st a gantt chart was released to us with the project included on it, except the due date was now Feb 4th.

Now, it's been internally noted (3 times) in an all-hands discussion by my supervisors supervisor that my project is not complete and should have been by the end of last month, January. This guy was in the initial discussion where we agreed on the original deadline, and is also the guy who made the incorrect gantt chart.

Question: How should I approach my supervisor about this? I'd like to do it with as little friction as possible and move on, but I'm concerned it'll reflect in a performance review or something in the future.

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    When you found out the Gant chart did not reflect your agreement, did you talk to whoever you had this agreement with? What happened? – nvoigt Feb 19 at 14:30
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    Do you have the evidence of the meeting 2nd Jan? ie showing the due date as late March? if not.... – Solar Mike Feb 19 at 14:32
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    --nvoigtit was acknowledged by my immediate super that the date on it was much sooner but brushed off as "this is meant for a rough pass on the project", which was completed. --SolarMike yep! I'm not in a bad position overall, everything is in text start to finish. just looking for some unbiased suggestions. – Kentonium Feb 19 at 14:56
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Do you have any written proof about this?

one big task specifically assigned to be finished for end of first quarter (late March)

If yes, use it in all discussions and try to negotiate the terms of the change of schedule. Since time is shorter, work has to be "shorter" too. Maybe some documentation will be cancelled, maybe some tests slashed... They are not good for a healthy project, but they a possible solution.

If no, then you can do the following (in no particular order):

  • discuss with your manager and present facts; if he seems to not understand, bad luck;
  • cross fingers, start / continue praying;
  • start looking for a new job.

This kind of moving the deadlines early shows quite clearly a bad kind of management - you should not go on with jobs like this.

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  • Accepting because more relevant to me and this is what I did in the end. Took proof of dates to my super, showed him what SuperSuper was doing, he agrees it's not cool and will be discussing it with SuperSuper in future and hopefully I'll get an apology or something in the near future. Hooray! – Kentonium Feb 22 at 15:38
  • I am glad that things worked out. I wish you all the best. – virolino Feb 22 at 21:02
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First thing first, you may have a supervisor trying to make you a scapegoat, in which case you may not get good outcome no matter what you do. So be prepared, start to do some job hunting won't hurt.

You may want to verify if it's just a mistake made by your supervisor, keep all your communication in record (best in emails). If your supervisor admitted his/her mistake, politely ask him/her if he/she can explain the situation to your supervisor's supervisor and CC you in email.

Now, if you are 100% sure that your supervisor is intentionally doing this and have no intention to fix, try to explain in detail about the deadline changes in a email. If there's any email communication about the deadline changes, do attach them as well. Send the email to your supervisor's supervisor (you can CC your supervisor, but not a must). Try to not be judgemental to your supervisor, but more in form of report explaining why the project wasn't finished on schedule.

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