The Work Thread

[silverfox]

Found out today that a parent I THOUGHT I had a great relationship with and we both agreed on how to challenge her child had been at a school function talking about how poorly I'm challenging her kid.

Just. Like. Fuck.

This is also the parents who absolutely hate technology and wish that I'd never let their kid on a computer again. So I CAN'T use some of the computer assisted instructional things to help move them along without them getting upset about her spending too much time in front of a screen.

screamsinacorner

[Auspice]

I do not believe in catering to the lowest common denominator.
I understand that training materials are there to help and you need to consider the lcd, but I do not believe in catering to the lcd.

We have someone at work who needs such prescriptive instructions to the level that you cannot say:
'Here is a screenshot of the screen you will be working in for this stage of the work.'
'These are the fields that are required, all others are optional and to be used as-needed.'
^ average person can go OK, great. I can work with this (and every other user in the scrimmage HAS).

She is the type of user who wants:

• Here is a step-by-step slideshow of how to get to this screen in the tool.
• Here is a screenshot with each required field highlighted.
• Here is a detailed example of what to fill into each required field with a reminder that you do not need to save after each.
• Here is a detailed example of what you might fill into each optional field, with extensive details as to when you will or will not need the optional fields, and reasoning why the are optional. And a reminder that you do not need to save after each.
• Here is how to save, even though it is exactly the same as every other screen in the software.
• Here is how to submit, even though it is exactly the same as every other screen in the software.

I have argued against this.
Vehemently.
Because I know people.
I know that this will make the training material so long that most users will take one look at it, go 'nope' and just hassle the support/training team for every single question they have (thus causing more work for everyone).
It will turn 'average capable users' into 'lowest common denominator' users themselves.

This sort of manual is how you end up with companies where there's 'Oh, go ask Bob, he knows how to do all those weird things in the software' and you find out that Bob actually read the document and no one else did and every single answer is in there but no one ever reads it because of how ridiculously repetitively detailed it is...

...because it catered to Karen, who rather than just put the effort into doing her job, cried until someone held her hand and did it for her.

[Jeshin]

@Auspice

A lot of jobs have that little disclaimer line "You will be expected to stand for long periods of time and be required to lift and carry things" there needs to be a "You will be expected to read the documentation and ask for additional training if necessary"

[Auspice]

@Jeshin said in The Work Thread:

@Auspice

A lot of jobs have that little disclaimer line "You will be expected to stand for long periods of time and be required to lift and carry things" there needs to be a "You will be expected to read the documentation and ask for additional training if necessary"

for real.

Like, we have a guy in the scrimmage who began the job a week before.

Everyone else got roughly 12 hours of workshops to train them in the tool. She was in this, for example.

This guy? A 45 minute tl;dr.

He's come back to us with a few questions, some needs for clarifications in the training. But for the most part? He has hit the ground running. Pro.

Like, people have absolutely had points that need clarification. Places where language was unclear. Places where they'd like a bit more detail, etc.

She wants every last detail.

She doesn't want: 'Write an essay between 300 and 500 words about your favorite wolf and deliver it by 8pm, Friday.'
She wants: 'Using a ball-point pen with a removable cap (not a click-pen), write an essay on college-ruled paper and deliver it by 8pm CST, Friday the 22nd of November. To use the pen, first remove the cap. To write, place the pointed end to the paper. The essay must be precisely 325 words long and it must be about timber wolves. It has to have no more than....'

Like, everyone else would understand the first: cool, you don't care what format it's in, so long as it's done. Or they'd understand: I need to reference previous metrics re: essays.

She wants 99% of the work done for her ahead of time.

[Sunny]

@Auspice

So, I support users like this that simply need it, period, and the option of not supporting them isn't there. I have had to find a solution to this!

Cheat sheets.

Lots of cheat sheets. For the specific tasks she does. As SUPPLEMENT to training material, available.on request. Unless your material and tools.make it difficult, it is likely to take less time to cobble this together than you will have to take dealing with her fucking whining.

Eta: the cheat sheets, pretend they are for a TV sitcom grandma. Build to that level. ^.^

Eta2: I swear, this is the type of situation where it is way easier to just give in than it is to deal with the crap for any length of time. If you dumb it down enough, she will also likely REALLY appreciate it, and the whining powers might be used for good.

Eta3: I have this convo regularly with my team's system engineer. I get it. But.

[Auspice]

@Sunny

The plan to provide infographics, flow charts, etc has always been there. Cheat sheets, as you say.
I am fine with this.

I am not fine with making the primary guide so massive and cumbersome that the average person is going to look at it and throw it out because tl;dr. That makes more work for everyone and makes everyone involved less effective at their jobs.

ETA: My whole design methodology is by discovery. Education about the screen they're on, how it's used, and a couple primary (usually required or v useful) hands on scenarios with guidance on discovery from there.
Everyone else has done great with this. Some have even discovered scenarios to recommend for their peers.

She wants every single potential scenario ever to be laid out in extensive detail.

Imagine you have an excel workbook. It has about ten sheets. Each one has perhaps fifty columns. Thousands and thousands of cells of data. Now multiply that workbook by twelve. Each of the twelve users has to do similar but not the same work. They have to sort, input, and view the data in varying ways. Now imagine someone wanted you to give them a book that told them every single potential method.
Method Aaa
Method aab
Method Abb
Method ABC
Method Aba
Method acb
And on and on.

Rather than: here's an example of how to get to ABC and how to get to Aaa and here's some tips and tricks to get the rest on an as-needed basis with a full searchable directory of what each one is and what it does.

Now multiply those twelve workbooks for every department a grocery store has.

There has to be a level of extrapolation.

(BTW the above with the spreadsheets? Is practically what they were doing. This new one is a software suite that does most of it for them. It is actually easier than the spreadsheet. If I was trying to educate these people on the spreadsheets I'd be crying......and there is no existing training. So I don't know how she learned to do her job in the first place tbh.)

[insomniac7809]

"So this item is on clearance, but last time I was in it was another 25% off."

Oh, yeah, we were running a promotion.

"Can you apply it anyway?"

...no. It was down more then. It isn't now. That's what a sale is.

"Then can I apply this discount off full-price merchandise?"

...no. Because this is not full-price.

"Do you have any other coupons? Can I get some socks for free? Look, there's sort of a mark on the leather, can you discount it for that?"

Lady, buy the fucking thing or don't, stop acting like a broke-ass motherfucker while you're carrying around Louis Vutton.

[Testament]

That fear when you start seeing people drop like flies from some random illness that you just know is starting to spread through work. And you are trying to survive as best you can, lest the Deathclaw named Flu or Strep eyes in on you because it tracks by movement.

[Scissors]

@insomniac7809 said in The Work Thread:

"So this item is on clearance, but last time I was in it was another 25% off."

Oh, yeah, we were running a promotion.

"Can you apply it anyway?"

...no. It was down more then. It isn't now. That's what a sale is.

"Then can I apply this discount off full-price merchandise?"

...no. Because this is not full-price.

"Do you have any other coupons? Can I get some socks for free? Look, there's sort of a mark on the leather, can you discount it for that?"

Lady, buy the fucking thing or don't, stop acting like a broke-ass motherfucker while you're carrying around Louis Vutton.

Aw shit, I think I saw this same woman in an EB Games store not long ago. There was a line up of like 8 or 10 people, and this woman was at the counter with 3 or 4 game her teenaged kids picked out. She was going on and on about the prices and just wouldn't stop, despite the impatient customers all glaring at her.

It was like "Are you sure there are no discounts on these? What about your other stores? How do you know they're not running sales? I want you to call them and find out!" And AFTER all that, she's still like, "Well, let me call Best Buy and have them price check for me." /while/ standing at the counter. And then, "See? They're cheaper by three bucks. They're checking to see if they have it in stock. If they do I'll get it there instead, not at your overpriced store!"

[insomniac7809]

@Scissors Yet when our response is "ThEn FUckiNg gO" we're somehow the asshole.

[Tinuviel]

@Scissors An EB Games that isn't running a ludicrous sale? I think they're required to, by law, out here.

[mietze]

Today I got a really sweet warm fuzzy. A regular client who has been in and out a ton dealing with a lot of power of attorney/death/change of address and other issues that we have taken turns helping get everything straightened out account and paperwork wise brought a box of godiva chocolates for us to say thank you. And another who I see every week came in after I left yesterday and left a really cute Happy Friendsgiving decoration and a very sweet note for me (it was waiting at my station this morning). For all the aggravation that working for The Man can be, as well as having to help people in distress or stress taking it out on you, I really adore many of our regulars.

[tek]

emails i send to my students:
"There’s no class on Thursday because we are observing Genocide Through Rose-Tinted Glasses and Also Turkey? Day"

[silverfox]

@tek

I absolutely refuse to do any Thanksgiving things with my students because they're too young to understand what really happened and I refuse to teach them false history.

[Snackness]

I am so grateful that my 5 year old son hasn't brought home any tales of Pilgrims and Indians feasting together in mutual delight this year. They just did a little play about what they were thankful for.

[silverfox]

@Snackness

Our primary singing-teacher at Church did a little story thing all mixed up with these songs about Jesus and the Bible and I just wanted to beat my head against the wall.

I didn't. Instead I totally distracted my two sunbeams with my little magnetic necklace.

[Sunny]

I work for a tribe. Thanksgiving is not at all awkward here. It is a family focused holiday, and family is the thing. It's way different in other places in the country, obviously, this culture is way different than non-Salish tribes. But. "Celebrating" Thanksgiving as a time to get together with family and count our blessings doesn't make you a bad person. If you really are serious and upset about it, spend the holiday learning the history of one of your local tribes. Find out what issues they are facing, and see what you can do to help.

Learning (and teaching) the ACTUAL history of people is one of the things to do about the holiday.

[Auspice]

I love/hate graphic work for technical documentation.

I'm good at it.
But I'm slow at it.

Ugh.

[mietze]

Fuck me. The radio station that plays at work has switched over to 24/7 christmas music. AAAAARRGGGGHHHHH.

Oh well still better than the 5 years of enya has a LMT.

[Auspice]

Reviewing the feedback from users for the training guide.

Feedback: 'Not clear where preferrred Distribution is located'

I go to look at the guide because I swear to god that is define-

Not only is it defined in the section named after the location it's in in the tool (which is, btw, 'Distribution'), but it's the very first thing one sees. aka, you open that section in the guide and the first sentence is 'One way to quickly populate the same preferred distributor.....'

BUT....

I show two ways to do it.

I don't think this lady read the guide at all and just gave us a ton of 'feedback' based on her own floundering.