Is there a name for those people....

[Patience]

So, because he went home at 5, he was lazy? With a few exceptions, (like today) I consider myself a hard worker, and I very seldom work past five. I manage my time well.

That isn't a snipe, I'll have you know - just an observation. (Made by a slightly grumpy person!)

 

[cornflakegirl]

Mind you - while I completely agree with making the tedium less onerous, I'm not sure that always ties up with making the solution more efficient... I spent a good part of last week (and of Rory's and a couple of other people's last week) automating the reformatting of a report that we get sent. Doing the process manually would take 30 mins absolute tops. Let's say I spent a day on the macro (probably an underestimate). The report is sent monthly. That means we have to use it for at least the next 2.5 years for it to have been a worthwhile use of time. Can't see it myself. But it was much more interesting to write the macro, and learn all sorts of new stuff, that to do the reformatting manually

(Would just like to say that some of my macros do actually make things more efficient!)

 

[cornflakegirl]

Bryony - the man described himself as lazy - in the same way that arkusM did. As a synonym for efficient

Do you do month-end reporting? If so, I want your job! I've never worked in a reporting role where stuff didn't frequently go ****-up at month end...

 

[Patience]

Yeah - I have had to stop and think about things like that in the past. But I figure if you are learning while spending ages writing the code you will probably save time elsewhere.

 

[cornflakegirl]

Yeah, that's my justification too! :self-deluded:

 

[Jonmo1]

Doing the process manually would take 30 mins absolute tops. Let's say I spent a day on the macro (probably an underestimate). The report is sent monthly. That means we have to use it for at least the next 2.5 years for it to have been a worthwhile use of time. Can't see it myself.

Are you taking into account the increased productivity of OTHERS? It's not just your own productivity that is effected by the speed and accuracy of your report process. If the productivity of 10 OTHER people is improved because they get the report sooner, then that multiplies the overall productivity by 10...or something like that...Definately making the day's work on the macro more worthwhile...

 

[Patience]

Bryony - the man described himself as lazy

Hmm, but I feel indirectly he is implying that I am too. But I had barely any sleep and have ridiculous period cramps, so I'll assume all the worst things today!

Do you do month-end reporting? If so, I want your job! I've never worked in a reporting role where stuff didn't frequently go ****-up at month end...

Kind of - I do reports for our funders, but that is quarterly/biannually (depending on who it is), really rather than monthly. A lot of my time is taken up with improving the systems of our company. No small task, but thankfully a steady one. I'll never be short of work, though! The rest of the time I get given invoices that I pretty much hand to the next person. I love that part of my job!

 

[arkusM]

For me it is a Symantec issue. I use "hard worker" in a slightly different meaning in this case. By “hard worker” I mean someone who does something the "hard" way; manual data entry etc. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
Bryony, by your own post you do not fit my "hard worker" definition,

I manage my time well.

those are the words of a smart, diligent worker. (English is such a messy language). My boss says he knows that I am working, even when my body does not show evidence of work!! Some work can only be started in thought. (then exectuted in a crazy formula or macro!! lol)

 

[cornflakegirl]

Bryony - now I definitely want your job! Not your cramps though - you can give them to someone else. (Hope you feel better soon!)

Jonmo - I fear in this case that the report was one of those where, if it appears to contradict the assumptions we made in the business case, we'll just wait for the next one, and the next, to see if a different trend develops over time. And that if the effect of my macro was to delete the report off the server, rather than reformat it, there would be no noticeable effect on our decision-making. But I am feeling cynical today. So please feel free to make more excellent arguments!

 

[RoryA]

In the interests of efficiency, at my last job I used to simply ignore the first two requests for anything, unless it was absolutely essential that the work was done there and then (such as one of the servers not working). It's amazing how much stuff people ask you for that they're not really interested in. Of course, most of them figure out the pattern eventually...