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Ella: Then it’s straight into Phase 2, collecting, collating, analysing, and preparing the 
final report. 
Marcus: Can we do that in five days? 
Ella: I think that’s optimistic, which is why I scheduled six. 
Marcus: That’s almost a week! Do we have that much time? 
Ella: We do, and with the right people, six days should see the job done. 
Marcus: Who are the people for this phase? Arthur and Rob, right? 
Ella: No, Arthur’s got other things to do, and Rob’s on leave, so Mike alone will be the 
main man on this part. He’s done it before, so it should be fine. But he may need some 
help with the smaller tasks. Someone who is good with detail and procedures. 
Marcus: Hmmm. Peter’s not free at the moment, so I can arrange Leo to chip in some 
time and advice. Leo’s very useful, particularly under pressure. And that’s everything 
sorted! Well done Ella. This report should certainly be ready in time. 
Marcus: Okay, Ella, you’ve done a good job with the basic timeframe of this project, but 
what about specifics? 
Ella: What sort of specifics? 
Marcus: Well, things like information gathering. Are we going to use questionnaires like 
we did last time? 
Ella: I was thinking of using the Internet to ask people to give their views, but you often 
get such silly responses when you do that. I’m of the view that the best way to find out 
things is to ask people directly, so that’s what we’ll do. 
Marcus: Okay, but that will take longer. We’ll probably even have to do some of the 
work at home. 
Ella: No, I don’t think so, as long as we stay back at work for some after-hours meetings. 

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Nam Đỗ Blog | 
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Marcus: Well, that’s better than coming in early. No one functions well in the morning. 
Also, the final report will need at least two appendices. 
Ella: Not only that, we’ll have to attach a small booklet to the end, containing printouts of 
the relevant parts from all the foreign websites we accessed. 
Marcus: That will take even more time. Are you sure we can meet this deadline? 
Ella: Yep, I’ve worked it all out, and I’m confident we can do it. Phase 1 should be 
finished by the 5
th
, leaving Phase 2 to begin about the 8
th
or 9
th
. Now, there’s a public 
holiday on the 10
th
, meaning that everything should be able to be submitted on the 
15th , and after that, we can relax, and celebrate on the 25
th
when the Design Division 
gives us approval to go ahead. 
Marcus: Hah, you’re assuming that the Design Division will approve this, and that’s not 
guaranteed at all. 
Ella: Oh come on Marcus, be positive. You know this should be approved—in fact, I’m 
even planning the celebration when this is all over. 
Marcus: Oh yeah, what’s on the agenda, then? 
Ella: Well, we definitely don’t want a party in the office, do we? We’ll want to get away 
from this place, and we’re all too busy with our own lives and families to find a mutual 
time free for a dinner party, so I thought we’d just buy some nice expensive gifts for 
everyone who participated. We can just give these to the people here in the office. 
Marcus: That sounds fine to me, but make sure they’re not too expensive. The Budget 
Department will never approve the cost. 
Ella: Don’t worry; I know how much I can get away with. 
Marcus: Alright. I’ll leave that with you. 

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