Sure Will
2 things would be a good start.
1.Advise me in good time (being pragmatic here) of expected or planned delays... (Given I'm datalink equipped it's a few strokes on the keyboard)
2. In the event of a delay...do as they do in the UK and Europe and increasingly in the US, advise us, send us to a fix to hold, and give us an onward EAT.
There 2 things that would make planet haughtney better for me.
P.S. If the controller is to busy, then isn't that an issue relating to safety and SA? Are you guys understaffed or something? Knowing about a delay in good time also allows me to plan further on the basis of a contingency, prudence being what it is, my priority is also safety, knowing about that 10 minute delay in advance could be the difference between me legally being able to get to destination or divert.
We can go back and forth as much as we like, I want this...you can only give me that etc..ultimately my neck is on the line everytime I plant my fat butt in the chair, yes you guys have enormous responsibility as well but your safety and well being is hardly an issue, to me when I hear "I'm too busy" it's the thin end of the wedge, what else one day might someone be too busy to pass on, you guys have that luxury, that safety valve, I don't.
In an imperfect world we make do, we improvise and we get the job done, if you use system and workload practicalities as reasons for being unable to provide some basic information..then maybe your organisation needs to look at how others seem to manage.
Not the guys on the front lines problem I know, god knows you have a bloody tough and thankless job at times, but as a team, we ought to be all moving in the same direction.
Too idealistic?