But what if the problem is of a more personal nature? What if the problem is that the decision maker wants to make all the decisions, but expects you to do all the legwork? My manager wants to have the final say about all the large improvements we make to the office. In this particular example, we'll use the sign out front of the shop. The sign that has been there for the last 25 years is showing its age, and has birds living in it. It needs to go. So the boss tells me to call sign companies and get three quotes for having the sign replaced. So I go and get three quotes, and the boss asks "Why didn't they send me a little drawing of what the new sign will look like?" What new sign? Oh, he's changed his mind. He wants the existing sign torn down, and a new one, in a new location erected. So now, because he didn't tell me what he wanted in the first place, I have to crawl back to the suppliers, my credibility in tatters, and ask them to do MORE work to provide a quote on a job they have a 2/3 chance of NOT getting. This has been going on since May, and the old sign is STILL there...