the art of communication.
 

damn. came into work and was hit by a email s-storm.

the simplest response to a contractor's question created such a fiasco..the question was pretty simple, so it didnt register on my radar (much). i found people trying to schedule a conference call..seriously?

i read our response..it was unclear to me, so i went to the engineer to clear up our position. he said, "well, it depends on how they interpreted my response".

this was almost a yes/no answer type thing. there should be no room for interpretation.. i think the young engineer is too worried about any exposure to himself.

i shouldnt have taken that week off..or i should take another week off. i dont want to babysit anyone.

thanks for the vent.

People are stupid. Sounds like something that a few clarifying phone calls can sort out. I had a boss that felt meetings were required to fix anything, I loved telling him to cancel his meetings because I had solved the problem with a few phone calls.

Hey why not? Could it make things worse?

Most people are ****ty writers and have too much email to begin with. I treat it as a transaction. Then you get the one guy that prints it out looking for nonexistent nuance and bidding meaning all while trying to cover his own ass. Jeez.

Email needs a Like button. Click it if you're going to do the assignment, etc. No need to respond.

OWP has it right, pick up the phone. I usually do one email exchange. If there are still issues I'll call. Email, text messages, etc, can spiral out of control quick.

Yup, cause you'll spend an hour in a room and the resolution will be for you to make a few phone calls and solve the problem.

But now your boss can feel good about himself because it was him that got the problem fixed by instructing you to do what you would have done without the meeting.:rolleyes:

Worked with a guy like that.

During weekly meetings he would listen to the other Dept Heads and if one of us had a situation that was taking longer than it should have to resolve he would wait until it was just about there and chime in, "I can get that done for you". Of course he would not have done anything and by the next meeting the problem had resolved itself but he would take credit.

Hated that guy.

I really dislike meetings.

Are you lonely?
Tired of working on your own?
Hate making decisions?

HOLD A MEETING!
The practical alternative to work.

Maybe I have a short fuse today.

One cat is peeing everywhere with a kidney infection. The other is puking everywhere from a GI issue. I have them locked in the laundry room. The most unpleasant smelling laundry room ever. 1 st vet bill was $900. Second cat going today.




Sent via Jedi mind trick.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm speaking Chinese, the way the guys who work for me end up performing a task.

We have a saying in my company that we have "meetings" by CC'ing people on emails. And if you don't respond toi the email then they missed the meeting.

I see this all the time--a simple RFI can become a week delay in an instant. Nobody wants to take responsibility and are only worried about covering their ass.

It was an RFI. Haha.


Sent via Jedi mind trick.

I really like the pre-meeting, the meeeting before the meeting.:rolleyes:

You mean the one where you get your story straight internally before presenting to the boss?:rolleyes:

I wish I kept count of all the pre-brief meetings we have around here. I'm guessing at least 3 per briefing, regardless of if anything changed since the last briefing.

And if I remember correctly, you love having cats...;)

Be happy the second cat is just puking. The last time our 15 yr. old cat had "GI issues" and was locked in the laundry room for a day or so, I think the laundry room probably qualified as an EPA Super Fund Site ... :eek: that will definitely ruin your day all right.

Clearly you're not outsourcing to the right country.

No, not outsourcing to the right decade. I was working on Masters Of Sex last week and telling the guys we needed to make sure the period dressing was circa 1958. All I get are blank stares and "How am I supposed to know, I was born in 1987." Damn slackers!SmileWavy