Things We Do Badly Regardless of Technology - In The Workplace

I'm pretty technologically literate. I can use Outlook's Calender with Reminders. 

I'm also someone who, after something becomes routine, I lose interest in it. Or, similarly, if I get a reminder enough times, I'll eventually start ignoring the reminder. 

Case in point: I have a reminder set up to do my timesheet bi-weekly. I will occasionally switch when I get the reminder from the day before, to a few hours before, to that morning, etc. Of course, sometimes I get the reminder while I'm working on other stuff. 

I've gotten to the point now where the reminder is pointless. It doesn't matter when it is, I always ignore it and forget to do my timesheet. 

Anyone else have things where no matter how many sticky notes, how many calender events, how many reminders, you still don't get it done? Something that perhaps isn't compatible with modern business culture? 

It's hard to think of myself as ever being a supervisory position because I really struggle with the little stuff. 

It took me three tries to stop stepping over the clean coveralls by the front door, and bring them to work.

Does that count? Not tech, but ignoring the obvious.

Hook the reminder up to an air horn?

It's funny because there was a similar post from the opposite side: managers struggling to get people to submit timecards.

Even one guy suggests firing people because they too frequently forget to fill out a timecard. 

I think this is a case of "what comes easy for one person may be a challenge for someone else." I know brilliant people who rely on others to remind them of simple daily tasks, and really dumb-as-hell people who are so routine focused that they never miss doing a task because they love the routine of it. 

If you ask me if I'm a procrastinator my answer is, "not right away." 

What it took to remind folks to run water through the new emergency shower and eyewash in the lab.  The old one's pipes rusted closed due to years of not being used.  $5K later, we decided we needed a weekly reminder to flush water through the new shower.

When I first started here, I often forgot to submit my time card. But now I have a pretty solid routine.

Thursday morning: 

1. Sign on to VPN
2. Get WiFi password for cell phone, it changes daily in the office (So I don't get any data charges) 
3. Check that account's email 
4. Submit time card

Then I download the latest release label, switch VPNs, begin the Developer Portal import.

Then I go on to whatever other tasks I have for the day.

In reply to pheller :

This sounds a lot like me. When tasks become repetitive, I become extremely good at forgetting about or ignoring them. Not just at the workplace, but that is certainly included.

I've not found a good solution yet.

I have similar issues, although anything that is directly related to my personal finances is almost never ignored and is checked frequently, so I can't quite relate on the timecard issue. But it will be things like cleaning up at home - No need to clean up, it isn't bothering me. It bothers me that it doesn't bother me, but the mess in and of itself doesn't bother me (important to note the difference in dirty and messy - everything is clean, I'll vacuum dog hair 2-7 times a week, but I leave clutter around)

I also have trouble concentrating at work. I'd be better without the internet, but I always seem determined to distract myself. Always been a procrastinator; rarely if ever miss deadlines, but that is something else that bothers me about me. Haven't been able to grow out of it either. Probably indicates that I'm always bored at work, like I was at school, and am in the wrong profession. Just wish I knew what the right profession was. 

One thing I've learned, which is pretty damn frustrating, is that if you're rich (or you've managed to elevate yourself into a roll where you can hire assistants) you can hire people to remind or help with you all of the things you might forget about or be too lazy to do. I indirectly get to hear stories about the daily life of someone very wealthy and how that person would basically be unable to function in a modern corporate setting without an army of handlers to assist them. They are charming though, which is good for schmoozing with other rich folks. 

I once heard a story about some higher-up (regional engineers or directors) old guys at my last job who had become so accustomed to relying on admins that when the company finally decided "hey, no more admins for you guys, you get paid too much." Those guys complained up and down, and it was eventually found out that they couldn't type, couldn't use a computer, and were using other staff to do necessary work on a computer while they sat around. Needless to say, they got axed. 

Likewise, some successful people who are naturally talented at remembering mundane tasks might get frustrated when they learn that not everyone is at good at remembering exactly when and how to do that task without any prompting. Unfortunately, those are the types that dictacte corporate culture, so it's usually a "Type A Personality Measure" prescribed to the rest of us "Type B and Type C" personalities. 

People not talking to each other.   Just sitting in the cube and doing work in a silo, not wondering or caring where it came from or where its going, how the next person is going to use it.   

I make a living getting engineers to talk to each other, among my other talents.

pheller said:

It's funny because there was a similar post from the opposite side: managers struggling to get people to submit timecards.

 

Even one guy suggests firing people because they too frequently forget to fill out a timecard. 

 

 

This is ridiculous.

The fix is astoundingly simple.  No timesheet, no paycheck.  I can pretty much guarantee that it only needs to happen once and the problem is fixed. 

Sounds like managers who don't have the balls to manage.

I forget to put in my time once in a while, but my "time card" doesn't affect if I get paid or not- it just shows the hours I spent on various tasks or projects.

One thing most people do very badly is getting up out of their chairs to walk around once an hour. It's easy to browse the news, check your phone and so on during a little break instead of moving around.

If an employee procrastinates about getting there timesheet in they don't get paid. That usually solves the problem.

I've gotten pretty good and remembering myself to do the time card- which isn't really a "time card", per se, as much as it is a "how many hours did I spend on 'x' project and 'y' project this week.  

My biggest groan-inducing task is the weekly report.  I have to do one for each project I'm working on; they don't take long (I knock  'em out on half an hour or so) but I routinely forget to do them.  I set reminders, mark it on my calendar every week:

I did remember it this week, sent them in yesterday.  

I also can be pretty....we'll say "lackadaisical"....about paying my bills.  I feel bad, because it's never because there isn't money to do it, it's just because there are other things far more interesting than moving said money from Point A to Point B.  And I feel worse, because I know there are absolutely people for whom the having of the money is the real problem.  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Online bill pay. I can pay my mortgage, utilities, and car payment in approximately 5 minutes.

SVreX said:

pheller said:

It's funny because there was a similar post from the opposite side: managers struggling to get people to submit timecards.

 

Even one guy suggests firing people because they too frequently forget to fill out a timecard. 

 

 

This is ridiculous.

The fix is astoundingly simple.  No timesheet, no paycheck.  I can pretty much guarantee that it only needs to happen once and the problem is fixed. 

Sounds like managers who don't have the balls to manage.

That is my company's policy: Forget to fill out your timesheet - accounting doesn't process your pay for that week.  It's been that way since I started here in 2001. Occasionally a new hire will test that statement, despite being warned it's not an idle threat. They do it once. 

I fill out my timesheet pretty much every day, generally because I'm often working on so many projects that I need to do it daily so I remember what I've worked on.  I've seen some guys write it all down, which seems like duplicated work to me. Our timesheet system is pretty simple to use. And if you're really working on a lot of projects during the day, you can just leave it open all day.

+1 for online bill pay - arguably the best thing about the internet. I'm borderline neurotic about paying my bills. I usually have bills scheduled weeks in advance.

z31maniac said:

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Online bill pay. I can pay my mortgage, utilities, and car payment in approximately 5 minutes.

Yep, I do that.  I even set some stuff that's the same amount every month (cell phone, mortgage, car payment) to autopay.  I still forget stuff periodically.  

pheller said:

One thing I've learned, which is pretty damn frustrating, is that if you're rich (or you've managed to elevate yourself into a roll where you can hire assistants) you can hire people to remind or help with you all of the things you might forget about or be too lazy to do. I indirectly get to hear stories about the daily life of someone very wealthy and how that person would basically be unable to function in a modern corporate setting without an army of handlers to assist them. They are charming though, which is good for schmoozing with other rich folks. 

 

I once heard a story about some higher-up (regional engineers or directors) old guys at my last job who had become so accustomed to relying on admins that when the company finally decided "hey, no more admins for you guys, you get paid too much." Those guys complained up and down, and it was eventually found out that they couldn't type, couldn't use a computer, and were using other staff to do necessary work on a computer while they sat around. Needless to say, they got axed. 

 

Likewise, some successful people who are naturally talented at remembering mundane tasks might get frustrated when they learn that not everyone is at good at remembering exactly when and how to do that task without any prompting. Unfortunately, those are the types that dictacte corporate culture, so it's usually a "Type A Personality Measure" prescribed to the rest of us "Type B and Type C" personalities. 

This kind of attitude is frustrating. Say I own a shop and I can make $80 an hour when I am fixing cars. So I hire someone to change oil, sweep floor, take out the trash, etc. so I can spend time doing the stuff that actually makes the money. After a few years of this arrangement i forget where the new trash bags are kept, so i ask the employee. Now he walks around with the attitude that I'm too dumb to take out the trash. That E36 M3s irritating.

And another thing, he was hired to empty the trash cans. If I need to tell him every day to empty the trash cans, because he doesn't find it interesting anymore and just can't seem to be able to bring himself to do it, I'm not going to look for technology that will help remind him. I'm not going to tell myself that it is because of his personality type and try to be more empathetic. I'm gonna bounce his ass out to the street as soon as I find someone else willing to do the job. 

Sorry your offended. 

I don't mind doing mundane tasks once in awhile, and will do those tasks to stay sharp. Some managers, owners, etc, get so attached to not doing those mundane tasks that they not only can't do them, they refuse to. 

If you can "bounce" someone for forgetting a mundane task you choose not to do, I have equal right to ridicule you for being useless at anything other than "the hard thinking." 

Worse is when people hire others to do the things they don't want to do. It's not about "I need someone to help out so we can focus on making more money." It's more about "I don't like doing this mundane task, I should hire an assistant to do it, then fire them every time they forget to do it. But I'll need to have a replacement lined up quickly, because hell I'm going to do that task." That's how we end up with all of these temp jobs to no-where. 

There is difference between someone screwing up on regular occasion that costs the company money and someone being occasionally (say, once every 3 months) forgetful of something. It was said in the other thread - sometimes being a manager or owner is trading doing mundane low-value tasks for occasionally have to remind someone of something that is non-essential, but important. 

In reply to pheller :

I don't know... I've been hired for "empty the trash" type of jobs. It's the job. You do it.  If you don't want to do it, then you get it done quickly and then ask to do something more. After the employer gain some confidence in you, then you can move up to a "not emptying the trash" position, although that task may still be required of you at times. 

Some people find digging ditches or taking out the garbage to be beneath them.  Some of those people are the bosses, some are the peons.  

Some people see a task, and perform the task.  If the garbage can is full, and they are walking toward the dumpster, they take the garbage, even if their name is on the front of the building.  Some of these people can be hard to work for, because they expect people to go above and beyond, because that's just the way it should be, and that's how they got their name on the building in the first place.

What were we originally talking about???

pheller said:

...If you can "bounce" someone for forgetting a mundane task you choose not to do, I have equal right to ridicule you for being useless at anything other than "the hard thinking." ...

You really didn't read what he wrote.  That person is "forgetting" the job he was hired to do! He is not stating he is "useless" at doing it, but that the specifics of the task were changed by that person. His "choosing not to do it" is so that you don't have a person that could be making $80/hour for the company spending time doing tasks you can hire someone for $15/hour to do, seems like a pretty logical business decision to me.

And if the person he "bounces" does not want to do those things, perhaps that should have been a consideration when he/she took the job!

pheller said:

Sorry your offended. 

I don't mind doing mundane tasks once in awhile, and will do those tasks to stay sharp. Some managers, owners, etc, get so attached to not doing those mundane tasks that they not only can't do them, they refuse to. 

If you can "bounce" someone for forgetting a mundane task you choose not to do, I have equal right to ridicule you for being useless at anything other than "the hard thinking." 

Worse is when people hire others to do the things they don't want to do. It's not about "I need someone to help out so we can focus on making more money." It's more about "I don't like doing this mundane task, I should hire an assistant to do it, then fire them every time they forget to do it. But I'll need to have a replacement lined up quickly, because hell I'm going to do that task." That's how we end up with all of these temp jobs to no-where. 

There is difference between someone screwing up on regular occasion that costs the company money and someone being occasionally (say, once every 3 months) forgetful of something. It was said in the other thread - sometimes being a manager or owner is trading doing mundane low-value tasks for occasionally have to remind someone of something that is non-essential, but important. 

I hate to break it to you, but I've got 5 people that work for me. I don't take out the trash. I don't clean the bathroom. I don't do the book keeping. I don't do the mundane everyday tasks even if I'm sitting on my ass daydreaming. I didn't even clean my own desk the last time it got cleaned, my admin did it because she had time and I was out of the office. That is why I hired the people.

If I have to frequently tell people to do the job I hired them for, then I hired the wrong people. If I have to constantly remind them to do ordinary everyday tasks, then I hired the wrong people. 

I am not a babysitting service. I hire adults and expect them to act and preform like adults. Lucky for me I've only hired the wrong person once. He didn't last long. The rest of them are the get it done types no matter what the job is. They are frequently looking at me asking what's next. 

Toyman01 said:

pheller said:

Sorry your offended. 

I don't mind doing mundane tasks once in awhile, and will do those tasks to stay sharp. Some managers, owners, etc, get so attached to not doing those mundane tasks that they not only can't do them, they refuse to. 

If you can "bounce" someone for forgetting a mundane task you choose not to do, I have equal right to ridicule you for being useless at anything other than "the hard thinking." 

Worse is when people hire others to do the things they don't want to do. It's not about "I need someone to help out so we can focus on making more money." It's more about "I don't like doing this mundane task, I should hire an assistant to do it, then fire them every time they forget to do it. But I'll need to have a replacement lined up quickly, because hell I'm going to do that task." That's how we end up with all of these temp jobs to no-where. 

There is difference between someone screwing up on regular occasion that costs the company money and someone being occasionally (say, once every 3 months) forgetful of something. It was said in the other thread - sometimes being a manager or owner is trading doing mundane low-value tasks for occasionally have to remind someone of something that is non-essential, but important. 

I hate to break it to you, but I've got 5 people that work for me. I don't take out the trash. I don't clean the bathroom. I don't do the book keeping. I don't do the mundane everyday tasks even if I'm sitting on my ass daydreaming. I didn't even clean my own desk the last time it got cleaned, my admin did it because she had time and I was out of the office. That is why I hired the people.

If I have to frequently tell people to do the job I hired them for, then I hired the wrong people. If I have to constantly remind them to do ordinary everyday tasks, then I hired the wrong people. 

I am not a babysitting service. I hire adults and expect them to act and preform like adults. Lucky for me I've only hired the wrong person once. He didn't last long. The rest of them are the get it done types no matter what the job is. They are frequently looking at me asking what's next. 

This.

Even though I have "Senior" in my title, I still do lots of mundane tasks that I have to take of care. For instance, the import I mentioned earlier, it would be cheaper to give that to our editor or an associate writer.........but I take on extra tasks/responsibilities since I'm working toward a promotion.