Collaboration that is not going well

[the-tenure-track-prof]

For the past 5 months, I have discussed a research idea with a colleague, professor rank at my university. He was the one who approached me with his problems with the administration at the university and department and told me that he is seeking another job. If you read my other posts, you know that this is the case with many faculty members at the university I work at, so this is not the issue at hand. However, from September until now, he keeps changing the focus of the proposed idea for research. I indicated in the past that we need to move to the writing stage and to apply for IRB approval before we think about collecting the data. After that, I realized that he is not a writer, and he keeps rambling no matter how many times I try to bring his focus back to the research proposal writing. I eventually told him that I am going to start the writing process if he does not mind. He never even responded. After I prepared a proposal, I also researched a funding agency and started the conversation with them, which took me a lot of time and effort. At the same time, he is absent, sending me brief emails that he will get to my emails on the weekend because he is "correcting papers." Bear in mind that he always has excuses not to make contributions. When I eventually heard from him, his email was insulting and had no acknowledgment of the hard work I invested. He didn't even bother to write into the draft. However, I indicated that we would exchange drafts until we reach the final draft to send it as a one-pager to the funding agency that was willing to look at a brief one-page proposal and give us feedback about the suitability of the project to their funding announcement.

He also rudely indicated that "your focus and mine seem to be different," which was not true but instead, it was his lack of engagement in the project that left him uninformed. I clarified to him politely that I agree with him; however, the funding agency interest dictates that we mention x,y,z and measure by using the operational definition of b based on the literature available. TO make things worse, he suggests changing the study to use different data than the one that he just a week ago, he agreed that we use!. I was flabbergasted how many times he did that and how he is a professor rank and can't make his mind up for 5 months about basic things like research questions when the topic seems obvious (at least to me). I was so pissed off and just responded that he writes his notes into the draft. At the end of my email, I also asked him if he thinks that this funder might not be an excellent match to our study?. If so, we could look for other funders.

I am currently getting really busy as I am engaged in 4 collaborative big studies, including one that I started with a group of several professors from my field last week which will porduce a publication, followed by a grant proposal with like minded who are eager to work and want to be productive. I feel that working with him will continue to be a headache, as there was no sign of his productivity whatsoever, for the short and long run. I also see that he lacks accountability, and does not bother to give attention to the draft manuscript that I also prepared alone, and responds like a student in brief emails, looks like someone who is throwing bunch of ideas into the email, instead of sitting down and doing the writing as a senior faculty suppose to do. I am a second-year tenure track going on third and looking to get tenured or find another tenure track (if you read my posts elsewhere, you would know that I am applying out while I am doing this research work). I do not see that there is a future for this work with him, and I will be the one who will work alone as I have been doing thus far and he will only send criticism and change directions all the time, and ideas will never progress beyond first draft. I am passionate about what I do and in the past 5 months, I published and presented many papers while feeling stuck with this professor who seems never to go beyond underlying presumptive ideas. How do I end this nicely?

[Hibush]

You are wise to decide this particular collaboration is not going to be productive.

To answer your immediate question: you can probably just say that you need to focus on a different project for now.  Since both of you agree that you have not found a true common focus, that would be the needed for this collaboration to proceed. You may both be fine putting that off indefinitely.

A crucial skill for R1 faculty is to be able to figure out how one of their really good ideas  overlaps with the highest priority of some funding panel. It sounds as if you are doing a good job of that. Perhaps other faculty at your current institution have not mastered that, and that is why they are stuck. And why you w.n't be;

[Ruralguy]

First, I can't see how this matters. If you drop it without saying anything, he will too.

But, a better idea is to meet with him in person. Always meet in person.Always schedule the meeting and always
limit to one hour. Stay focus about what each of you will do and discuss a product for the next meeting.

And forget this stuff about him being senior. For whatever reason, he's got trouble with this, so you can discuss in person how to proceed. If he doesn't wish to do that, just drop it.

[arcturus]

You will need to figure out an approach that does not risk your collegial relationship. That could be just no longer bringing it up. Or it could be having a face to face conversation where you acknowledge that you have not found a common focus for the project. But, whatever you do, do not put in a proposal for funding. Once you have funding for the project, you are obligated to complete it.

These are interpersonal skills that you need to develop. There will be more instances like this as your career progresses. Sometimes it will be with senior colleagues, sometimes with peers, and sometimes with students who cannot complete their projects (particularly if you aim to transition to an R2).

[the-tenure-track-prof]

Thanks!. For the reasons that I mentioned, I no longer wish to proceed with this work with him. For the past 5 months, I went out of my way to make this collaborative project works. I prepared the project timeline, set due dates for tasks to complete for the research project, set dates for meetings for the entire year that I was committed to, despite no contribution at his end. Today for the zillion time, he writes an email as if this is the first time we are talking about the project, and he was also offensive stating that "he and I have a different focus." A week ago, he said the opposite of that, and based on what he said; I sent him the draft!. He is also not a nice person to talk with, although he contacted me crying about all the issues with the administration and his department, which may partially be correct.
At this point, I want to maintain collegiality, especially that I put his name as a recommender. He will remain my colleague, but it does not mean we must work on a project together.  I wonder if I should send him an email to end this collaboration or a zoom meeting? I am leaning towards ending the collaboration politely and tactfully via email.

[Ruralguy]

No, not email. Meet with him and just come right out and say that it seems that it's not productive and you don't want to waste his time by needling him about it or going off in directions that displease him. He'll probably say"I guess that's right" and end it. If he doesn't, then just say it's really best for keeping a good working relationship to end the project.  See if you can salvage it for yourself or gift it to him.

[Ruralguy]

Just to add...you will find yourself in all sorts of collaborations. Sometimes interesting work with nice people kind of stalls out. Other times your most boring ideas you were ready to chuck lead to productive collaborations with jerks.
And everything in between.

[polly_mer]

I disagree that the first step is a meeting.

I would just quietly put this on the back burner and work on other things.  This is the situation that resolves itself if you let it, usually with minimal hard feelings.

If you're relying on this guy to respond to reference invitations in a timely manner, then you may wish to find someone who is more on the ball with timeliness.

[research_prof]

I disagree that the first step is a meeting.

I would just quietly put this on the back burner and work on other things.  This is the situation that resolves itself if you let it, usually with minimal hard feelings.

If you're relying on this guy to respond to reference invitations in a timely manner, then you may wish to find someone who is more on the ball with timeliness.

I agree with Polly. Never tell someone "I am cutting you off". Just do it quietly without saying it. I have also worked with quite a few unappreciative colleagues (some of them of the same rank as me). I still have papers under submission that I would like to remove their names from (since they did not make any intellectual contributions--they even refused to pay the publication fees, so they got a 100% free ride!), but I will not do it. I will let the papers get published (probably pay for them too!), but I have already cut them off from ongoing and future work.

You should do the same: Work only with people that are willing to contribute (not necessarily equally as you, but at least do something!) in a timely manner. Whoever is not willing to play by these rules, I do not want them on my papers!

[the-tenure-track-prof]

My thought is that I want to end it graciously with him and not to allow him to mumble about it later!. He is in the habit of blaming others and getting stuck so I have to be careful with how I ended.
He is still stuck with teaching issues for two years now. While I had similar issues in my first semester (as detailed elsewhere because I didn't know that the professors expected to pass all students regardless of performance and admit all applicants irrespective of GPA score), I picked up myself and started to focus on developing my research agenda instead. It worked for me very well, and I started to network with faculty outside of the school, which reenergized and put me on the right track once again.
But for the past 5 months, he seemed to me that he never moved on. He keeps bringing up old issues with his department; he continues to call them names, and to struggle with the department, he continues to want them to change!. I overlooked all this because these things can happen, but he has no sense of commitment to the project, which means I will continue to do all the work if I continue this collaborative project. I want to end the working relationship with him as peacefully as possible. I submitted his name as a reference, and he agreed but then asked me to be his reference if he is invited to interviews. No one has invited him for interviews so far. I sent him an email to meet with options for days and times for the next two weeks.  I will see if he would respond positively or pull a new excuse for not meeting.

[the-tenure-track-prof]

I agree with your philosophy about handling this type of people 100%. I also ended relationships with people who appeared to want to take a " free ride" on a publication or a grant application. In this case, though, my concern is that he is a colleague at the same university, and it is a small campus. Besides, as I said earlier I scheduled routine meetings for the entire year with zoom invitations sent to him to reserve a day and time for the project throughout the year, in which case I`d have to cancel and use excuses for canceling each meeting. If I do not move to another university next year, I might also meet him in some meeting or forum on campus.

I disagree that the first step is a meeting.

I would just quietly put this on the back burner and work on other things.  This is the situation that resolves itself if you let it, usually with minimal hard feelings.

If you're relying on this guy to respond to reference invitations in a timely manner, then you may wish to find someone who is more on the ball with timeliness.

I agree with Polly. Never tell someone "I am cutting you off". Just do it quietly without saying it. I have also worked with quite a few unappreciative colleagues (some of them of the same rank as me). I still have papers under submission that I would like to remove their names from (since they did not make any intellectual contributions--they even refused to pay the publication fees, so they got a 100% free ride!), but I will not do it. I will let the papers get published (probably pay for them too!), but I have already cut them off from ongoing and future work.

You should do the same: Work only with people that are willing to contribute (not necessarily equally as you, but at least do something!) in a timely manner. Whoever is not willing to play by these rules, I do not want them on my papers!

[research_prof]

I agree with your philosophy about handling this type of people 100%. I also ended relationships with people who appeared to want to take a " free ride" on a publication or a grant application. In this case, though, my concern is that he is a colleague at the same university, and it is a small campus. Besides, as I said earlier I scheduled routine meetings for the entire year with zoom invitations sent to him to reserve a day and time for the project throughout the year, in which case I`d have to cancel and use excuses for canceling each meeting. If I do not move to another university next year, I might also meet him in some meeting or forum on campus.

I disagree that the first step is a meeting.

I would just quietly put this on the back burner and work on other things.  This is the situation that resolves itself if you let it, usually with minimal hard feelings.

If you're relying on this guy to respond to reference invitations in a timely manner, then you may wish to find someone who is more on the ball with timeliness.

I agree with Polly. Never tell someone "I am cutting you off". Just do it quietly without saying it. I have also worked with quite a few unappreciative colleagues (some of them of the same rank as me). I still have papers under submission that I would like to remove their names from (since they did not make any intellectual contributions--they even refused to pay the publication fees, so they got a 100% free ride!), but I will not do it. I will let the papers get published (probably pay for them too!), but I have already cut them off from ongoing and future work.

You should do the same: Work only with people that are willing to contribute (not necessarily equally as you, but at least do something!) in a timely manner. Whoever is not willing to play by these rules, I do not want them on my papers!

Yes, you can say the following for a few weeks to cancel the meeting until he forgets about them: "Sorry I have been busy with other things and I was not able to make any progress. Let's cancel for this week".

That's how I eventually cut off people I had regular meetings with. Time is the only resource not coming back. Do not waste it. This semester I have reduced the number of meetings I have and I scrutinize quite a bit before putting a new meeting on my calendar. Unless there has been clear progress to talk about, I am not willing to waste my time. At the end of the day, I better run out of work to do rather than spending 15 hours every day to get my work done plus attend useless meetings.

[Ruralguy]

I would ask to meet,see what he is willing to do and meet again in a month. If that leads to nothing, let it trail off.

[the-tenure-track-prof]

An update, this time, he responded positively so I`ll meet with him via zoom this week.

[Ruralguy]

I hope it works out.

In any case, it occurred to me that he might be hesitant because he knows you want to leave and he knows he wants to leave.