How do I tell my boss I've accidentally been working halftime on the wrong project for the past year?

Question

I am a QA tester, and started with my company almost a year ago.

On my second day, I got invited to a meeting to discuss a project (let's call it Project A) that was just getting started. I am the only QA tester on this team. I have been spending about 15 - 20 hours a week for the past 11 months on this project. The rest of my time is spent on another project (Project B).

Just the other day, I came to a surprising revelation: I am 99% sure that I was invited to the original Project A meeting by mistake. They had intended to invite a different QA tester with the same name (I have a very common name). I didn't realize it because it was just my second day. So while I've been giving 15 - 20 hours/week to Project A, I should have been giving 40 hours/week to Project B.

This is a very embarrassing situation, but I feel like it's not fully my fault. My question is, what's the best way to bring this up with my manager, who has a history of getting very angry about small things?

And if you're wondering, this went on for as long as it did because we were all remote due to COVID. When I did have 1-on-1 meetings with my manager (which are not very often), I would sometimes bring up challenges with Project A, but they must have been generic enough problems that he didn't realize I was talking about another team.

Also if you're wondering, I finally started getting suspicious about things when I went to a happy hour (the first post-COVID) with Project A team. When I introduced myself, a lot of people looked very confused. Some just looked at me with puzzled stares. Others made some strange comments like "you've lost a lot of weight" (I haven't), "so you finally decided to shave off the beard" (I've never had a beard), and "how are the dogs?" (I don't have dogs). After a lot of digging, I finally reached out to the other individual with my same name. He confirmed that he thought he was supposed to be working on Project A, but never got invited to any meetings, and so has been focusing on other work.

Answer 1

While this is almost certainly a mistake, consider these two things:

• project A seems perfectly happy with your work
• project B seems perfectly happy with what you produce in only 20-25 hours/week

There doesn't seem to be any harm done. Nonetheless, you need to share your concerns with your boss (and probably should have before talking to your name-twin, who may have already alerted someone.) Something like:

Am I actually supposed to be working on Project A? Because I have been but at the recent happy hour, I suddenly got the impression maybe I wasn't supposed to be, but instead another [my name] should have.

Your boss may get angry, or may laugh. If they get angry do point out both of the points I made above. They may decide to let you keep going, or put more of your effort on project B. Try to be equally happy with both outcomes. (A little pep talk to yourself before the meeting is probably in order.)

Answer 2

This is a very embarrassing situation, but I feel like it's not fully my fault.

1. It should be embarrassing for the people charged with managing you, it shouldn't be embarrassing for you.

2. This is completely not your fault. Again, this is a result of poor managerial oversight.

3. How do you bring it to the attention of your manager? Simply and directly. Explain the situation, without any of the unneeded backstory you've put in your question.

Answer 3

In my experience, there is one and only one way to get out of such a conundrum: just do it.

Invite your boss to a one-on-one or use your next regular meeting, and simply tell him.

"Hey $BOSS. It recently came to my attention that not everybody is aware that I'm working for project $A as well as project $B, and I believe that may have been a mistake or misunderstanding when I started. Can you help me with that - is it OK to keep working on both projects in parallel?"

That's it. The information is now out. You do not have to worry whether your boss knows or does not know; he now knows.

The talk will continue as it will. I would not overthink this or put together a "decision tree" of which answers you will give to whatever questions your boss had. In the hopefully unlikely case that he is angry, retreat to the position that it was just a confusion between all involved and just clear it up.

Answer 4

I don't see how this is a problem for you. You work in the QA Department and are supporting a development team. It doesn't actually matter who in the QA Department does the work as long as the outside team gets the support that they need.

Speaking of which, normally your boss assigns you what to work on, not random outside teams. At least at companies where I've worked. Strange your boss never directly instructed you to work on this project but don't worry because it sounds like you did the other person's job. They're the person who will be in trouble, not you since you've completed all of your assigned task plus the extra work!

I would tell the boss exactly what you told us, including what your co-worker said. Don't do this in public. Do it in a private meeting.

Also make sure you get your annual review and that in that review it is explicitly mentioned that you did the work for Team A and you did a good job. Also push for a raise and promotion. You often don't get what you don't ask for.

Answer 5

You got invited to a meeting, on your second day, and you were assigned work to do. You did the work. I assume the work needed to be done, right? And I assume that you did the job well, right? And the people doing Project B haven't been complaining either, right?

So nothing here is your fault. Actually, you did exactly the job you were told to do. And you did it well. Just assume that your manager knew about this all the time. Because if he didn't, that puts him into a very very bad light, not knowing what an employee is doing for 11 months. If you did a bad job, that would be your fault. If you work for the wrong team, and your manager doesn't notice for 11 months, that's your manager's fault. So his only choice is to pretend that you did exactly what you were supposed to do.

And since your manager always knew what you were doing, there is no need to bring this up at all.

Answer 6

While I agree with some of the others that this is not a situation that is your fault, and that, if there has been an error, your manager or other levels of management should have caught the mistake and corrected your course, this is something to be brought up and corrected. Arguably, your current course of action is what is right for the company, but if your company employs different budgets for headcount and for work, you may be accidentally building a case that, while you were hired under Project B's headcount, actually that money needs to be allocated to Project A since that's where you're doing the work.

Again, this is something that is more the concern of your manager, and is their responsibility more than yours, but if you don't bring this up, you run the risk of them thinking you intentionally sabotaged them, especially if it comes to light that you realized that work was being charged to the "wrong" project and you didn't mention it to them.

As always, when it comes to what could potentially be a dispute in the workplace, document as much as you can while the facts are clear in your mind, and email invitations and paperwork have not been erased in the name of tidying the archives. When it comes to documentation of actions, it's always better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Answer 7

There is of course a chance that this was all done completely deliberately by the management (your manager and others). It could be as simple as your manager putting you onto Project A to see how you'd get on, or because they knew Project B wouldn't fill up your time.

As for the team social... Lets say you're John C Smith, and the other tester is John D Smith. Project A's team were told "Yeah, we're getting a tester to help us... let me check... his name is John Smith".

At that point all of Project A team groaned because they know John D Smith, who's a bit unhelpful, sometimes inaccurate and generally not terribly good at what he does.

The project's progressed, and Project A's testing has gone well, so they're generally happy. Old resentments may still linger, but they're doing fine. Then all of a sudden, you turn up at their social event. They're expecting John D Smith - they think they've been working with him for the past year. They don't really know John D Smith very well (as they don't really like him all that much, they haven't taken the time), and maybe you look passingly similar, so they assume you must be John D Smith.

Remember, they were never told "We're getting John D Smith, the one who's not very good" - they assumed this for themselves, and nothing over the last year has changed their assumptions. They never heard "John C Smith - the new guy". Even when meeting you face-to-face, they're still not thinking "oh, maybe there's another John Smith". They're obviously heavily biassed to believing that they got John D Smith - the guy they already know.

As noted in the other answers though - no matter what happened here, it is absolutely not your fault. If anything, your manager should have had a tighter grip on what's been going on - especially in the early weeks of your tenure.

Answer 8

Your question:

How do I tell my boss I've accidentally been doing other work?

Added detail:

When I did have 1-on-1 meetings with my manager (which are not very often), I would sometimes bring up challenges with Project A, but they must have been generic enough problems that he didn't realize I was talking about another team.

I don't have a practical answer for what you should actually do right now, but don't forget that you did tell your boss, more than once. Literally exactly zero of this is a problem you caused. The fact that your boss doesn't know this, even though you told him more than once about Project A, puts it all on him.

He may not see it that way but those are the facts. If he doesn't like it, you can ask to transfer to Project A full time.