Communicate to boss that the task I was assigned feels way to big/complicated












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Like about a week ago my boss assigned me to a task, which to me feels way to big/complicated for me considering my minimal skills and lack of experience so far (I just graduated my bachelors degree in software engineering last fall, no work experience aside from some internships).



How can I politly communicate that this might be to much for me alone and/or that if I am supposed to do it by myself I need a lot more time? I don't want to sound lazy or make it seem like I just don't want to do it. That's not the case. But half of the specifications is pretty much hieroglyphs to me and another big chunk of what I understand are things I've not used yet or not learned.



My boss was on a trip the whole week, so I was not able to communicate with him (business trips usually call for 8-10h nonstop work at the clients workplace - very very busy) and wants to meet tomorrow for a little update meeting. However I haven't really started programming aside from the small amount of work I was able to understand and start.










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    Like about a week ago my boss assigned me to a task, which to me feels way to big/complicated for me considering my minimal skills and lack of experience so far (I just graduated my bachelors degree in software engineering last fall, no work experience aside from some internships).



    How can I politly communicate that this might be to much for me alone and/or that if I am supposed to do it by myself I need a lot more time? I don't want to sound lazy or make it seem like I just don't want to do it. That's not the case. But half of the specifications is pretty much hieroglyphs to me and another big chunk of what I understand are things I've not used yet or not learned.



    My boss was on a trip the whole week, so I was not able to communicate with him (business trips usually call for 8-10h nonstop work at the clients workplace - very very busy) and wants to meet tomorrow for a little update meeting. However I haven't really started programming aside from the small amount of work I was able to understand and start.










    share|improve this question

























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      1








      Like about a week ago my boss assigned me to a task, which to me feels way to big/complicated for me considering my minimal skills and lack of experience so far (I just graduated my bachelors degree in software engineering last fall, no work experience aside from some internships).



      How can I politly communicate that this might be to much for me alone and/or that if I am supposed to do it by myself I need a lot more time? I don't want to sound lazy or make it seem like I just don't want to do it. That's not the case. But half of the specifications is pretty much hieroglyphs to me and another big chunk of what I understand are things I've not used yet or not learned.



      My boss was on a trip the whole week, so I was not able to communicate with him (business trips usually call for 8-10h nonstop work at the clients workplace - very very busy) and wants to meet tomorrow for a little update meeting. However I haven't really started programming aside from the small amount of work I was able to understand and start.










      share|improve this question














      Like about a week ago my boss assigned me to a task, which to me feels way to big/complicated for me considering my minimal skills and lack of experience so far (I just graduated my bachelors degree in software engineering last fall, no work experience aside from some internships).



      How can I politly communicate that this might be to much for me alone and/or that if I am supposed to do it by myself I need a lot more time? I don't want to sound lazy or make it seem like I just don't want to do it. That's not the case. But half of the specifications is pretty much hieroglyphs to me and another big chunk of what I understand are things I've not used yet or not learned.



      My boss was on a trip the whole week, so I was not able to communicate with him (business trips usually call for 8-10h nonstop work at the clients workplace - very very busy) and wants to meet tomorrow for a little update meeting. However I haven't really started programming aside from the small amount of work I was able to understand and start.







      communication management work-experience task-management






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      asked 24 mins ago









      SuimonSuimon

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          Be as honest as you can as soon as you can. Getting overwhelmed by your first project is to be expected (and your boss should have expected this and given you more of a ramp-up, but I guess he was busy).



          Talk to him.




          Thanks for giving me this workstream. Would it be possible to talk through the requirements on this, I'm afraid I don't really understand them and I think I might be overcomplicating what's needed to complete this task.




          The odds are that the task you have is well within your capabilities, but the language/depth of the requirements are just unintelligible and need some translation into something you can understand.



          Before your meeting, try to understand what you can about the work-items and replay these assumptions to him - you don't really want to give the impression you've only stared at the screen for a week.





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            Be as honest as you can as soon as you can. Getting overwhelmed by your first project is to be expected (and your boss should have expected this and given you more of a ramp-up, but I guess he was busy).



            Talk to him.




            Thanks for giving me this workstream. Would it be possible to talk through the requirements on this, I'm afraid I don't really understand them and I think I might be overcomplicating what's needed to complete this task.




            The odds are that the task you have is well within your capabilities, but the language/depth of the requirements are just unintelligible and need some translation into something you can understand.



            Before your meeting, try to understand what you can about the work-items and replay these assumptions to him - you don't really want to give the impression you've only stared at the screen for a week.





            share




























              0














              Be as honest as you can as soon as you can. Getting overwhelmed by your first project is to be expected (and your boss should have expected this and given you more of a ramp-up, but I guess he was busy).



              Talk to him.




              Thanks for giving me this workstream. Would it be possible to talk through the requirements on this, I'm afraid I don't really understand them and I think I might be overcomplicating what's needed to complete this task.




              The odds are that the task you have is well within your capabilities, but the language/depth of the requirements are just unintelligible and need some translation into something you can understand.



              Before your meeting, try to understand what you can about the work-items and replay these assumptions to him - you don't really want to give the impression you've only stared at the screen for a week.





              share


























                0












                0








                0







                Be as honest as you can as soon as you can. Getting overwhelmed by your first project is to be expected (and your boss should have expected this and given you more of a ramp-up, but I guess he was busy).



                Talk to him.




                Thanks for giving me this workstream. Would it be possible to talk through the requirements on this, I'm afraid I don't really understand them and I think I might be overcomplicating what's needed to complete this task.




                The odds are that the task you have is well within your capabilities, but the language/depth of the requirements are just unintelligible and need some translation into something you can understand.



                Before your meeting, try to understand what you can about the work-items and replay these assumptions to him - you don't really want to give the impression you've only stared at the screen for a week.





                share













                Be as honest as you can as soon as you can. Getting overwhelmed by your first project is to be expected (and your boss should have expected this and given you more of a ramp-up, but I guess he was busy).



                Talk to him.




                Thanks for giving me this workstream. Would it be possible to talk through the requirements on this, I'm afraid I don't really understand them and I think I might be overcomplicating what's needed to complete this task.




                The odds are that the task you have is well within your capabilities, but the language/depth of the requirements are just unintelligible and need some translation into something you can understand.



                Before your meeting, try to understand what you can about the work-items and replay these assumptions to him - you don't really want to give the impression you've only stared at the screen for a week.






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                answered 8 mins ago









                SnowSnow

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                60.5k51196241






























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