And Lo, A Voice Said: Update Thy Spreadsheet
I run the weekly wrap-up meeting. All the issues raised during the week are reviewed by a panel and assigned to someone, who has to make sure the issue is being followed up.
At the next meeting, they must show that they’ve checked on it and that it’s being managed.
It’s a simple process. All they have to do is update a spreadsheet: whether it impacted a customer, what’s being done, any costs, etc. It’s about preventing mistakes. Everyone knows the score.
Me: “Okay, so there are a couple of missing items. Line twenty-four doesn’t have an update.”
Coworker: “Well, it’s not missing. The work is being done.”
Me: “The missing refers to the spreadsheet. It needs an update.”
Coworker: “Well, I’m just saying, the work is being done, so, it’s not technically missing.”
Me: “Okay, noted. But can you put a sentence in the description box to explain what is being done?”
Coworker: “Well, I guess.”
The next week:
Me: “Here is the update. [Coworker], we seem to be missing something from you.”
Coworker: *Sighs.* “I explained this last week. It’s not missing.”
Me: “Again, the spreadsheet is missing a description.”
Coworker: “Can’t you just put down ‘it’s being done’?”
Me: “The idea is that you explain what is being done.”
A week later, [Coworker] doesn’t even show up to the meeting. The week after, there is still no update.
Me: “Okay, so no missing item. Err… [Coworker], I see you’ve updated yours as ‘done.'”
Coworker: “Yeah, basically, there wasn’t an issue really, so we carried on.”
Me: “Okay, well, can you summarise it in the spreadsheet?”
Coworker: “Well, I’m really busy at the moment, so I don’t know when I will get it done.”
Voice Out Of Nowhere: “[Coworker] will get it done today.”
Coworker: “But I’m busy with—”
Voice: “—No. Not that busy. Today. Before you sign off. Please.”
Coworker: “…Oh. Okay.”
Turns out the mystery voice was [Coworker]’s Boss’s Boss’s Boss, who had been silently listening in for weeks, unhappy with the state of the reports coming out of my meeting.
Since it was “my” meeting, I suspect I was about to get the blame for not running it properly, right until [Coworker]’s excuses exposed him.
[Coworker] got all of his updates in after that!
