There are no stupid questions, only stupid people

[j4]

My bosses are both away, one until Thursday, the other until next Thursday; basically this means I'm left holding the fort (or rather, the baby). So far today and yesterday I have had:

• Two requests to do some work that boss #2 said she'd do two weeks ago.
• A request to update a colour image with the attached document (a Word file).
• A request to do, by Friday, a major revision of an area of the site which I've never seen before ...
• ... and which is on a server that we don't even own.
• Two requests to "just change a couple of words" in PDF documents.
• About 15 requests to make edits which, to paraphrase the sense of urgency conveyed, need to go live by yesterday if not sooner otherwise the University will explode and EVERYONE WILL DIE.
• One request from our Press department as to why a demo page in somebody's personal webspace on an internal server behind the university firewall can't be seen by people browsing from outside the university ...
• ... for example, by the hundreds of people to whom the URL for said page has just been emailed.

*headdesk*

Comments

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Use more sarcasm. It's not always effective against idiots but I find it helps.

When speaking to Press, marketing or sales people, remember to ask them nicely before launching into technical explanations:

"Will it help if I speak really S L O-O-O O W L Y?"

You are working by, for, and among idiots. One day someone will write a useful business and management book about this, and get sued by Scott Adams - who already has written the book, but no-one takes cartoons seriously.

[j4.livejournal.com]

The problem is, everybody around here assumes they already know all the technical stuff, because they are grate branes, and besides, it's only the web, innit, and that's not really technical. Result: they don't take kindly to being patronised. Besides, I don't have the authority; in terms of the great Total Perspective Org-Chart, I'm probably stuck making tea for the bowl of petunias.

But if one more PhD or marketron says something like "Can't you just put in another button on the hyperlink from the drop-down bullet point?" then I'll, I'll ... well, actually, I'll probably growl, rant a bit on LJ, and go and make another cup of coffee. :-/

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to educate my users to ask for things they want, but not to be too upset when it turns out the answer is "no". Sometimes they get terribly impressed by very easy things, too.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

Oh hell yeah. Bosses who cannot tell the difference between a two-hour task and a three-month one have positives and negatives, and being able to get back to them surprisingly fast can definitely be a positive.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Often there's an easy way to solve their problem, so long as one isn't constrained too much by the way they first envisioned it being done. It helps that they're not my bosses.

[j4.livejournal.com]

so long as one isn't constrained too much by the way they first envisioned it being done

That pretty much sums up the bane of my existence. What we want people to do is say "We have this information; please help us make it suitable for the web." What we get is "Please add these thirteen new bullet points as hyperlinks to this PDF", coupled with a total unwillingness to contemplate the mere possibility that people who were hired to do information management and web editing MIGHT ACTUALLY HAVE MORE CLUE ABOUT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AND WEB EDITING THAN THEM.

Ahem. Rant over.

(I should point out that it's entirely possible that our content providers might have better ideas than us about how to present their information; I'm always open to the possibility, and sometimes it even actually happens that way, and it's great when it does because it makes things easier for me. But more usually they're immovably fixed on something impossible.)

immovably fixed

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Just pop down to Mackays and get an unstoppable force. Same shelf as levers to move the world but about 10¹⁷km to the left.

Re: immovably fixed

[imc.livejournal.com]

Same shelf as levers to move the world

Anyone can get a lever, but do they sell fulcrums?