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

[camellia-uk.livejournal.com]

> Two requests to "just change a couple of words" in PDF documents.

not a problem. Print the documents out, change the words by hand (preferably in red marker pen), then put them in the pigeon hole of the person who asked for it. They won't ask again :-)

[j4.livejournal.com]

There are people here who still submit all web edits as red-pen-on-paper. I'm always tempted to go round to their office with a bottle of tippex and a red pen and make the changes on the screen.

Perhaps this time I'll tattoo the changes on their heads instead.

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]

Depending on the nature of the change, it's not a problem with the full version of Acrobat. Convincing people that they need to spend the money on such is more tricky, though. Thankfully, my manager listens to us and has the clout to tell people that she's right if she really needs to; her immediate boss is the company chairman.

In an academic context, where everything has to be justified for petty bureaucracy, I'd rather stab myself in the face. Or stab other people in the face, which also makes the problem go away.

[j4.livejournal.com]

We have Acrobat Pro. We can edit PDFs. But we don't. It's a workflow issue.

The content provider owns the document (in whatever format they produce it -- usually Word); we publish it in the most accessible format possible (often, sadly, PDF). The master copy, however, remains the one that the content provider owns; they determine the content, they own the information. It's partly a point of principle; but also, from a purely practical point of view, if we make changes in the version that we've published, then next time they send us a new version you can guarantee it won't have those changes incorporated in it, and we'll have to go through the whole process again.

It would really, really help if the content providers weren't all ON CRACK.

[caramel-betty.livejournal.com]