Thursday, June 14, 2007

Working and whining

All too often they go hand in hand, don’t they? For me, the technical aspects of maintaining a corporation’s many websites is not the hard part.  It’s trying to figure out what they want and managing their expectations.  It usually goes something like this…

  1. Department head says they want a new page, and they need it to launch the same day as some article they are publishing.
  2. I say no problem, give me the material and it’ll be done in plenty of time.
  3. They give me an overview of the kind of information that will go on there.
  4. Time goes by, I create the new page’s shell based on what little they gave me.
  5. Project manager comes by and asks how the page is coming along, and if it will be ready for the launch date.
  6. I show what I have and inform him that I still have no materials to put in.
  7. Project manager seems mildly surprised and says he’ll get the information to me.
  8. A few hours later, after I’ve gone for the day, the project manager emails me a message with tons of attachments, explaining in great detail how he renamed the files so I could tell which was which.
  9. I stare at all this and sigh heavily. So much blabber about file names and no directions on how this stuff is to be arranged. Where on the page do these things belong? There are multiple sections requiring different kinds of data and attachments. What goes where dammit?? Mind reading is the single most powerful ability when you’re part of a corporation.
  10. I go to the project managers desk, but he’s always on the phone, managing other projects. So I email him with my questions.
  11. He waits until I’m gone for lunch to come to my desk.
  12. I come back, expecting some kind of email response, and there is none.
  13. He doesn’t get back to me until 15 minutes before I’m supposed to leave for the day to help me sort it all out, then informs me that they expect to launch the next day.
  14. I do a mad dash and finish everything in record time because I have a doctor’s appointment after work.
  15. The next day, they decide to delay the new web page’s launch because they want more information on there first. Information they were never able to give me.
    I hate fake deadlines. It’s likely that it’s a project manager’s tactic for getting things done on time, but it would help if they would give me the fucking materials in time for their imaginary deadlines! The managers and content providers drag their feet because they know what the actual deadline is, but they keep pushing everyone else towards the fake one even though we don’t have everything we need. Fucking fickle bastards.

    Posted by Geeky Dragon Girl on 06/14 at 05:41 AM
    (4) Comments • Permalink
    Categories: • Grrrrrr... • Office Hijinks