Impossible task

Have you ever worked on an impossible task? Not just difficult, boring or long, but really impossible? Do you remember your feelings?
It usually begins not so bad: the authorities simply give up another task. This is not your first task, behind you already have a couple of completed projects and nothing, at first glance, causes fear. The task sounds weird, but you still have not penetrated deeply, and the authorities, after all, are not fools, so you nod your head and go to investigate.

Start

In the beginning everything is very interesting. From the very first minutes it becomes clear that this is not a 2 minute task. You need to think, understand, dig. And you start to do it - you are a good and smart employee, right? The subject area is actively perepepachivatsya: the Internet, books, dating on specialized forums, experiments, the first small victories and the first disappointments. Nothing foreshadows trouble. Life is beautiful, the sky is cloudless, Lenin and the party lead us to the triumph of communism.

Increasing tensions

The task turned out to be a tough nut to crack. It is precisely known that at the moment nobody has decided it completely - there are no paid or open solutions. People on the forums somehow get lost when talking on this topic, really no one can say anything. You, of course, do not give up. Well, it means you need to think a little more yourself. New experiments are being carried out (most of them ending in failure), gradually the working day is lengthened by an hour or two. There are vague suspicions. You already know exactly 100 different paths that do not exactly lead to the result. There are, of course, a dozen more ideas, but it takes more and more time to check each next one. Well, time is necessary, it means it is necessary ...

A crisis

Well that's all. The last normal idea yielded no results. The devil has already passed — how much time has passed since the beginning of work on the task, it is terribly embarrassing to you that everything turned out this way - but there is no result. Along the way, a couple of decisions arose, but one of them required a budget of $ 1.5 billion, the second suggested a result somewhere in 25 years, and the third required changing the constant gravity and international legislation. Not an option. Doubts about their own adequacy forced them to bow to several professors, two competing firms, and to interview all friends / acquaintances / friends who were not familiar with the subject of ideas — to no avail. Well, it's time to give up.
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Conversation with the authorities

We go to the head and talk directly about the situation. It can be short - “the task is unsolvable,” it can be long explained why. Then there are a couple of options.

For example, you are fired. A couple of months ago, it would have caused horror in you - “How so ?! Me?! After all?! For what?!". Now you do not care. Your self-esteem has fallen so much lately, and the desire to get away from the task has increased so much that dismissal is perceived as quite a way out. You get up and go.

Or you are not fired, but in a short and rigid form with obscene expressions explain where you need to shove the results of their work and that the result should be on the table tomorrow. This situation is even better than the previous one. To the factors of falling self-esteem and the desire to get rid of the task, an awareness of the impossibility of working under the guidance of such people is added. And you leave with an even lighter heart.

Another option - the boss shrugs and says "okay, forget it." And everything seems to be fine - the task is canceled. But no. After all, the boss has to talk with his boss or customer, and this will be a difficult conversation. And seeing you, he will remember him for a long time that he may come around. Well, and colleagues will look at you with a look "he did not cope." The odds for the annual premium fell to almost zero. A vacancy of the head of the subdivision will soon open - well, and this chair is hardly shining for you now.

Well, or this development - the head listens carefully, nodding knowingly. Then he offers brandy and says that, they say, everything is clear - the problem is not solved. But that's what the matter is ... The client is an old and reliable business partner. He had already passed the fire, water and copper pipes. And never failed. And now I’ll have to explain what we've been doing. He, of course, will understand everything. But the advance must be returned. He, of course, has already spent - but that's not the point. One more contract with the same client is being leveled - a much larger one. And such a crap is not at all to the article. Moreover, competitors have recently become bold, and this is another crisis in the yard ... Maybe you can still think of something? Well, at least somehow ... Think some more, eh? And we will upgrade your computer, an intern to help give you a quarterly premium. Well, so?
...
After such a conversation, only completely complete villains can get up and slam the door. You (unfortunately?) Are not. And the truth comes the thought that maybe not everything is so bad, and maybe you can think more ... And the new computer, the assistant and the prize are not such bad things. And you nod your head ... Then you curse yourself 10 times for this thing, but you cannot bring back what you have done.
And you return to the hated task. It is still not solvable in general terms. But from past experiments, you have a private solution that helps somewhere in 20% of cases. Stretching, you expand it to 35%. Another crutch gives another 10% coverage of the valid input data area. Well, just yesterday, a new library appeared, as if trying to do something similar, too. Another 10%. And that 55% ... Well, let's say 60% - round numbers sound better. And you again go to the management, report on the achieved results and now you don’t agree to dig further and further in any buns. It is what it is. The boss understands that it really is already everything and lets you go in peace.
And the next day you come to work and watch the theater of the absurd. Solemnly celebrated ... "the successful completion of the project." On the company's website hangs the announcement of the new product “the first in the world to completely solve the task ...” Nobody pays attention to your timid attempts to notice that everything is far from reality. Product start selling. Well, somehow it turns out not so scary. Realized 60% in reality cover 85% of the needs of ordinary users. The remaining 15% are needed either by rare geeks or those who want to get used to it. They manage to fend off - from whom technical support, from whom discounts, from whom ignore. It seems to be possible to live. But an unpleasant aftertaste in the soul remains for a very long time.

Not the end

As you probably noticed in situations 1 and 2, the case ends with the dismissal (in situations 3 and 4, too often). It would seem - here it is, freedom. But no. Even changing the place of work you can overtake a shock wave of two types:

1. The task is given to another person, and he likewise rests on its impossibility. In an attempt to make at least something, he sometimes pulls you and the ghosts of the past emerge in all its glory. Here it is - a monument to your failure, has not gone anywhere, stands and towers among the low statuettes of your victories. He also has a new caretaker now - he doesn’t forget to wipe off the dust from him, to demonstrate to you and those around him.
2. The task is given to another person and he successfully solves it. Here you want to cry, laugh, swell, hang yourself, breathe a sigh of relief and wear out. Well, many other things you want. At first, terribly unpleasant. But in fact - this is one of the best options. Because in this place for you it really ends. Cheers, happy end.

Have you ever had such tasks? What were the sensations? How did it end?