Chainsaw on a rope swing

John Cook quotes Merlin Mann:

If a project doesn’t have an owner, it’s like a chainsaw on a rope swing. Why would anyone even go near that?

By itself, that is a fantastic visual.  Personally, I try to run as fast as possible. Then he comments further:

Perhaps worse than a project with no owner is a project with a powerful owner who doesn’t care about the project. The project is important in the sense that the worker bees will be held responsible for seeing it happen, but not so important that it’s worth the owner’s time to help. “This is important for you to develop, but not important enough for me to take the time to tell you in any detail what it should be.”

Sure this is a problem in industry, but it's practically the definition of academia.