How to deal with an irresponsible collaborator?

[psyguy83]

I am preparing for data collection with my labmate, and there is a problem. This person is not on top of their stuff. They are incredibly unorganized, impunctual, and consistently miss deadlines. It is embarrassing, and I am concerned that it will reflect poorly on me because some of my work hinges on their ability to complete theirs, which is not happening on agreed-upon deadlines. Not to mention, I cannot trust them to manage any aspect of the study.

I expressed my concerns to this person several months earlier (it is no department secret that this person is often like this) in the hopes that they would work on it but my patience is wearing thin. I also do not want to get my advisor involved because that would be a bad look for both of us. We have to work together, and me working on something else or them working on something else is not an option.

Any thoughts on how to handle this?

Thanks!

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[AcronymAllergy]

Unfortunately, I don't know if you have many options left other than A) getting the advisor involved, or B) doing more and more of the study yourself. If you've only explicitly talked with this person once about it, it could be worthwhile to try talking with them again. Also, document everything. If push comes to shove, you want it to be more than just your word vs. theirs.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Document...everything. Email chains, mutually agreed upon deadlines, etc. If they are aware they are like this, then you may have a few more options. More likely though, you'll need to build in some soft deadlines to help guard against them dropping the ball.

 

[psyguy83]

Thanks for your help!