Down and Dirty

All of this talk about getting things done when engineering is swamped, and everyone and their pet budgie getting involved, and no-one wanting to take responsibility, all came to a head a few days ago, and I'm just beginning to regret that old expression of rolling the sleeves up and getting down and dirty.
Merk, the poor chap, being floundered with the project management (claiming that he hasn't done that sort of thing for ages) has tried to get my help to sort a few things out. I don't know if I helped or hindered, but between us we managed to clear up FO's very poorly written spec (it said everything that it needed to, and nothing useful), and we have a better understanding of what will be delivered and when. Gabriel came crying to me that he doesn't have the manpower to deliver anything useful, so I agreed to do the technical thing and will try and block out some time to do something I've never done before, being the most qualified to achieve this, and with no time to do it. Axis is now my good buddy, and his partially-produced solution is now being re-defined by my involvement. If one person does the work, it's consistent. If two, it needs an interface! I trust Axis to pull it off, though. And poor Spin is so out of her depth in contributing things, that I have to more or less oversee her every move. Again, because I haven't anyone else to watch her, and I've got no qualified resources, aside from myself.
Whinge mode toned down.
You realise what this means, though, don't you? I went away for my well-earned 'rest' when this project began, with the expectation that I wouldn't be involved in it at all. I've come back to find that nothing's been done, and had to inject myself into every facet of it. If the project fails, I will feel personally responsible. I have no choice. It's in my nature. In the same way that I had to get involved to rescue this little beastie, I may end up drowning myself in the process, and I can't stop myself from swimming onward.
Once upon a time, I realised that my chief role in a past company was Patron Saint of Lost Causes. As much as I enjoy the martyr complex, I wish that I could break out of the cycle. I would stand up in management meetings and bemoan the demise of disappearing company culture, the loss of working processes and structures, or the introduction of ludicrous mean-budget-based decisions that removed small luxuries when our largest cost was the people who enjoyed and appreciated those luxuries.
I would prefer to be teflon. Sometimes I get away with that quite nicely - step in, do my bit, chivvy things along, step back into the shadows, smile sweetly as the project gets delivered by someone else, and breathe a sigh of relief that we've pulled off another amazing advance in porcine aeronautics. To me, that is teflon, because maintenance always comes around to bite you on the glutius maximus, and if you don't own the pig, then you don't have to apply the lipstick.
Some people are teflon because they do own the pig, but have managed to disguise themselves with the lipstick first, or quickly bequeath it to their neighbour, or exchange it for their dog - or swap it in the middle of the night when no-one's watching. Enough farmyard metaphor. It must be the mud thing.