don't become irreplaceable ...

I was chatting with a colleague yesterday, and he mentioned that he was stuck in a rut. He has been doing the same damn thing for more than 4 yrs now. His client has not changed since he joined, and his current project has been going on for more than 2 yrs. He has been in the project since inception, and now he has become whole 'n' soul of the project. Developers have come and gone, and he has just watched it happen while being on the same seat. He is not stagnating as such because new responsibilities have been given to him, but he is just bugged of being there all the time.

That's when I told him: dude, you have become irreplaceable and that's the problem.

When someone becomes irreplaceable, the dependency on them increases and it soon seems like nothing can be done without them. The only positive I see is that, it's a project related matter; sooner or later they will find someone and start-off with KT's and a smooth transition of responsibilities from one shoulder to another shoulder will happen too.

But what if it's a real-life crisis? What if someone becomes irreplaceable in someone else's life?? How do we handle such situations??? We cannot just shift the burden from one shoulder to another, we cannot have a KT for a relationship because it's not a logical issue, it's a psychological issue; nothing to do with the brain and everything to do with the heart.

There are no easy answers, but I am not looking for it anyways. All I can say is, please don't get overly-dependant on anybody; and please oh! please ... don't become irreplaceable.