Frazz by Jef Mallett for March 31, 2020

Web surfing, following interesting looking hyperlinks, IS fun, but you should not let it get in the way of finding the information you were originally seeking.

And you now have a full understanding of Mission Creep.

Education is a wonderful thing.

When I was in Boeing, some of the projects I was involved with had one or two mission creeps!

Happens to me all the time – from various volumes of the physical encyclopaedia in the 1970s to the internet now, like the kid here. However, I have to say that I have never connected “mission creep” to the natural propensity to dawdle over linked information, mostly useless – live and learn!

If you’ve ever had a relative who can’t tell a story in under five minutes because they keep getting drawn off onto tangential subjects and occasionally losing track of their narrative, you have a good idea of what mission creep is all about.

Mission creep and The Problem With Wikipedia. :) https://xkcd.com/214/

I’m like that. sigh . .

Why is Frazz holding her at sprayer-point, and then again, why is his finger behind (rather than on) the lever that operates the little pump?

It’s flat perspective: his arms are crossed so it appears he is pointing at her. His finger is off the trigger probably to avoid accidental spray.

Incidentally (which is where much education takes place), perambulating through miscellaneous topics is a good way to take the boredom out of some kinds of assignments. Serendipity often brings one happy finds. One can always come back to the original search but feeling better about it than at the beginning.

Is that like forgetting why you went into a room?

Here begins a rush for the definition of ‘mission creep’ in online searches.

I learned “mission creep” as something more insidious than curious ramblings. I learned it as an increased work load under the guise of an original assignment. For example, your mission is to inspect the foundation of a building, you find cracks, and now are expected to repair them without further negotiation.

So much information….so little time!

I used to refer to going to the dictionary and following a potentially infinite path of definitions as a “Webster chain.” Someone else defined a dullard as someone who can open an unabridged dictionary, look up one word, close the book and walk away.

This must be a state that has not closed its schools.

Try “function creep”

I’m retired librarian – for fifty years I was focused, goal oriented, and purposful. Now, I chase virtual rabbits, follow wild geese, and wander aimlessly through the word(wide web). Wahoo!!!!!

A manager a few weeks ago made a change to some project requirements, said she really needed them even though she knew it was Scope Creek.

Dictionary assignments always took me a long time because I’d see other interesting words along the way.

Jef Mallet’s Blog Posts:

Frazz18 hrs · One of my favorite terms. And one of my favorite problems, if you do it right. One of my least favorite problems otherwise. The term really needs to be split into two sub-terms, one for mission creep that’s brought about by your own distraction and curiosity, and one for mission creep where someone else is in the driver’s seat and has you creeping toward their priorities instead of your own. I suppose the term for that one might be “employment” or something like it.

Back before “mission creep” was a thing, we called it “creeping capability” and it didn’t come from above, it was usually introduced by those working on the project “to make it better”.

https://xkcd.com/214/