Dueling Tasklists
I have, at this moment, four local schools depending on me to maintain and upgrade their campus technology. What this means is that I have four competing tasklists each with high priority items.
And every day I go to a different site, reload for a whole new set of problems, teachers, students and support staff. And everyday I have to reset my expectations for what I might be able to accomplish.
My tasklists are dependent on more than just me to complete items and therein lies the rub. When I am at a site once a week, I need my support tech to actually respond and help me get things sorted out on-site. Otherwise things sit for another week and another week and another week. Which does nothing for my credibility at the site even though it isn't my fault I can't get my support tech out to the site to, you know, support me.
I know my support techs are even busier than I am and I try to cut them as much slack as possible. But I can count, on one hand, the number of times one has said they will be at my site at a certain and they have actually shown up. This is a problem.
Especially when I know they are compulsive email checkers and never let their cellphones get more than five feet away. I know they are getting the messages, they are just choosing to not respond immediately and keep doing whatever it is they are doing.
I don't necessarily blame them but it gets a little hard not to when you're asking for the same support assistance again and again and again.
I like working with the schools, I like what I do but I really dislike having to labor in a dysfunctional bureaucracy that attempts to squeeze too much out of everyone in it and leaves too many too drained to actually do their jobs.
blog comments powered by Disqus
And every day I go to a different site, reload for a whole new set of problems, teachers, students and support staff. And everyday I have to reset my expectations for what I might be able to accomplish.
My tasklists are dependent on more than just me to complete items and therein lies the rub. When I am at a site once a week, I need my support tech to actually respond and help me get things sorted out on-site. Otherwise things sit for another week and another week and another week. Which does nothing for my credibility at the site even though it isn't my fault I can't get my support tech out to the site to, you know, support me.
I know my support techs are even busier than I am and I try to cut them as much slack as possible. But I can count, on one hand, the number of times one has said they will be at my site at a certain and they have actually shown up. This is a problem.
Especially when I know they are compulsive email checkers and never let their cellphones get more than five feet away. I know they are getting the messages, they are just choosing to not respond immediately and keep doing whatever it is they are doing.
I don't necessarily blame them but it gets a little hard not to when you're asking for the same support assistance again and again and again.
I like working with the schools, I like what I do but I really dislike having to labor in a dysfunctional bureaucracy that attempts to squeeze too much out of everyone in it and leaves too many too drained to actually do their jobs.
Labels: bureaucracy, work
