Boss: we have a problem in production. Can you take a look at it right now?
Ed: What's the ticket number?
Boss: Sue entered it; I'll get it from her.
[Boss gets ticket number; in the meantime Ed does something else productive.]
Ed: Thanks Boss; I'll call Sue if I can't figure this out from the ticket. By when do you need an update?
Boss: I'm concerned that pending changes could hold up a fix for this. If that's the case I'll need clearance from Steering before we can patch it. Let me know if this needs a code change, and what else could be affected.
Exactly. You wrote what I meant to write in my comment, but much more concisely.
(however, it's quite possible Ed has mentioned the problems in the process many times. At some point, people give up and concentrate on doing what they can.)
Boss: we have a problem in production. Can you take a look at it right now?
Ed: What's the ticket number?
Boss: Sue entered it; I'll get it from her.
[Boss gets ticket number; in the meantime Ed does something else productive.]
Ed: Thanks Boss; I'll call Sue if I can't figure this out from the ticket. By when do you need an update?
Boss: I'm concerned that pending changes could hold up a fix for this. If that's the case I'll need clearance from Steering before we can patch it. Let me know if this needs a code change, and what else could be affected.
Ed: Right-o. [taptaptap]