Monday, August 22, 2005
there's no looking back
I know. But after you've worked with the best, it's a really painful process to work with second best.
Chucking my dissent with present organisation aside, I must admit that I've worked with some of the finest professionals around.
They're motivated (due to work pride; nothing to do with the organisation), they have initiative and most importantly they have brains and aren't afraid to use it. They also have a good dose of common sense (which helps immensely) and are so confident that they are not afraid to seek clarification when unsure and not afraid to point out inadequacies where necessary. And of course, they have an innate respect for other people's deadlines and do provide input on time.
And then they leave. Well, some of them have and their replacements - to be kind - are nothing to rave about.
It's not that I want to be harsh but some things that they can bring themselves to do... simply amaze me. Really. At that split second, I'm not angry, not pissed off, not frustrated. I just find it amusing.
The most classic example happened quite recently when I conceptualised a mini website within our official website for a programme that was to be launched. And in the tradition of when you want something done right do it yourself, I mindmapped the entire concept onto a sheet of paper, typed out the content as it should be, even named all the secondary webpages and listed all the items in the menu. Hell, I even added in comments (the coding way: /*) to guide workflow.
Because of my wonderful career choice, I didn't have to actually create the webpage. So I passed it on for processing. Five days later I get a live link, saying it's completed.
I click on the URL and looked.
And froze. And was caught between an intense desire to laugh and cry.
Brilliant is as brilliant does. The person copied and pasted the entire content of that Word document I sent over into one html page and lived it. Imagine my horror.
A live webpage on the official website that had content like:
Photos (link to Gallery - the exact page you determine after you've uploaded the photos)
What if I had been in a dark-humour mood and gone:
Photos (link to Hellery - the cemetry of photos stripped of dignity and resolution)
I immediately replied the email with a "please remove from website. need to make adjustments", went out for a fag and after calming myself, sent the link to said person's boss with the caustic question: Anything in this page look wrong to you?
In under a minute my phone rang. Said boss demanded to know if the page was live or just a mock-up. I assured that my instructions are to remove. An audible sigh of relief floats through the receiver. I snigger yet again. Said boss in rather dejected manner promises to explain to his subordinate.
I've never seen that webpage again.
// posted by the commentator @ 6:29 pm 
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