Have I reached the limits of my ability to be effective in my job?
October 26, 2021 3:04 PM Subscribe
I like my job but I’m afraid I am no longer good at it.
I have been working for my company in my dream industry for not quite five years. Prior to this point I spent the last 10 years under or unemployed, and even though I don’t make a lot of money I feel like I’ve finally kind of “made it” with this job. However, I am concerned that I have reached the limits of my efficacy in my position, and I’m not sure what to do next.
For the purposes of this post, let’s say I work for a company that provides sales, marketing, and other services to small, independent jewelry designers. I am part of a 3-person (previously 2) team that facilitates and troubleshoots client interactions with our content management program. Clients load product images and information into the program, and it transmits this information to digital catalogs, boutiques, Amazon, etc. The program is deeply idiosyncratic. For every two problems that our corporate masters fix within it, it seems like another is found or created, and their process is slow. It isn’t popular, but it is what we have.
Ideally, clients would treat their product records almost like living documents and update them on a regular basis, keeping their information as complete as possible and marketing copy fresh. It is generally agreed upon by persons in our company as well as our corporate overlords that clients should be empowered to maintain good product records as a key to good sales (organizational capacity may not be the appropriate phrase here, but it’s the one that I know), especially online. Educating clients, especially new clients, on good product data practices is a big part of what I do. They would also ideally turn in new, complete product information every season on time. This is easier said than done. Our clients are really fascinating people and tend to be more artistic in temperament, though I don’t mention this to claim that they struggle with their product management altogether. Really, our clients’ comfort with the program runs the gamut, regardless of size or location, with some being super on top of deadlines and most of the rest struggling. I acknowledge that as small businesses, frequently one-person operations working with aging technology, learning or remembering product record requirements and how to use the product management program is not a high priority. That is why they work with us—we provide them with that expertise.
My problem is that I have come to resent our clients. I resent telling the same clients, over and over, that the reason why their records and product images are not appearing at Amazon is because of missing or incorrectly formatted or populated records. These aren’t brand new clients unused to product management using a program like ours—these are clients who have been with the company as long as or longer than I have. I resent being told that learning this information is beneath clients, or that the way they’ve chosen to do things is better, regardless of best practices or the needs of accounts, or that underperforming products and the difficulty of the product management program are part of some secret conspiracy(!) to impede the client’s sales success. I didn't used to feel so resentful, and the level of confusion has actually gone down since I first started at this position, not up. I don't know why it's getting in the way of my work now.
We build (and are in the process of rebuilding) a series of documents and an online help portal to guide clients to what information is needed and where it needs to go in the system, and frequently our clients ignore it, or worse, they want us to do all of their work for them, the complete opposite of organizational capacity, and impossible with a total client list of nearly 200. They do the bare minimum and all but forget about their records until a problem is discovered somewhere or someone complains. They don't respond to reminders to turn in information and then complain to our sales and marketing staff about their sales, which might be better if their buyer- and consumer-facing information was complete and robust. Or the sales and marketing staff complain to us about customer information, suggesting that they were permitted to upload whatever they wanted (when in actuality they were notified about missing information as well as the potential cost of not turning it in, but it did not change the outcome).
I mentioned earlier that my team was 2 people and is now 3. Up until this summer my former boss J would respond to clients pushing our deadlines by bending over backward to accommodate them. J worked a lot of late nights and weekends in the past as a result, and I think some of our clients have taken advantage of her. J has also had a tendency of not letting me know when the rules were being relaxed or waived for a client, leading to a lot of embarrassing moments where I would receive something from a client, tell them that it was late or not in the correct format, only for J to respond to my email saying that it was ok, and due to the client’s exigent circumstances (which I had not been informed of) we were accepting the thing anyway, which I felt made us look bad. At one point I suggested informal regular meetings to prevent things like this from happening, but they did not stick. I came to resent J’s lack of communication with me as well. J tends to keep to themselves and does not engage in a lot of office chatter, and I accept that. Building a rapport and a regular flow of communication with her has been important to me, however, and continuing to not be told things about clients and their situations hurt, something that I’ve subsequently taken to my mid- and year-end reviews. When asked, J has mentioned that my emails sometimes indicate that I am losing patience with clients (something I really don’t want!). I have and continue to occasionally run emails and communications past J asking how to best handle situations or what to do next, and J’s response tends to be to take over and handle it herself.
J and I now report to a new supervisor, Q, who has been in the company longer than I have and whose work has been combined now with J’s and my department. Q has remarked that the amount of communication going out to clients about missing product information and how to fix it surprised him. I had been hoping that this would give him a full understanding of the difficult task of educating and wrangling data from clients, but as we have been undertaking the educational material rewriting project, he has remarked that the things that I write are “too philosophical” and “make better appendix material, going into the reasons why the client should do things.” My goal has been helping clients to understand the point of the data that we request and, gently, the potential repercussions of entering information incorrectly or incompletely, NOT to be punitive, but to try to prevent data problems before they happen. We now have weekly check-in meetings, but I find that I get talked over in them often, which is very frustrating (we are largely having them via Zoom as our office slowly migrates back to working at the office, which doesn’t help) and makes me feel like my input doesn’t really matter even though I am the person working with clients most to address the problems that the client portal materials are supposed to address.
I don’t know where to go from here. The rewriting project was my idea, and something that I had to re-request after initially being dismissed by our VP (and then the corporate overlords announced a UI "upgrade" that necessitated new screenshots, etc.), but I don’t really know if it’s ultimately going to help clients who have decided that reading our education materials isn’t worth their time, or that the way they’ve chosen to do product records is right, when it isn’t. I feel like our department has no other ideas about how to improve the client-product management experience despite it being a). our department’s job and b). a requested goal passed down from the corporate overlords. And I can hear my father’s voice in the back of my mind telling me to keep my mouth shut and let the supervisors lead, even if I don’t personally agree with their actions. But if I do that, how am I personally showing that I care about my job and want to grow in this company/industry? Is this a sign that I don’t really have what it takes after all?
I have been working for my company in my dream industry for not quite five years. Prior to this point I spent the last 10 years under or unemployed, and even though I don’t make a lot of money I feel like I’ve finally kind of “made it” with this job. However, I am concerned that I have reached the limits of my efficacy in my position, and I’m not sure what to do next.
For the purposes of this post, let’s say I work for a company that provides sales, marketing, and other services to small, independent jewelry designers. I am part of a 3-person (previously 2) team that facilitates and troubleshoots client interactions with our content management program. Clients load product images and information into the program, and it transmits this information to digital catalogs, boutiques, Amazon, etc. The program is deeply idiosyncratic. For every two problems that our corporate masters fix within it, it seems like another is found or created, and their process is slow. It isn’t popular, but it is what we have.
Ideally, clients would treat their product records almost like living documents and update them on a regular basis, keeping their information as complete as possible and marketing copy fresh. It is generally agreed upon by persons in our company as well as our corporate overlords that clients should be empowered to maintain good product records as a key to good sales (organizational capacity may not be the appropriate phrase here, but it’s the one that I know), especially online. Educating clients, especially new clients, on good product data practices is a big part of what I do. They would also ideally turn in new, complete product information every season on time. This is easier said than done. Our clients are really fascinating people and tend to be more artistic in temperament, though I don’t mention this to claim that they struggle with their product management altogether. Really, our clients’ comfort with the program runs the gamut, regardless of size or location, with some being super on top of deadlines and most of the rest struggling. I acknowledge that as small businesses, frequently one-person operations working with aging technology, learning or remembering product record requirements and how to use the product management program is not a high priority. That is why they work with us—we provide them with that expertise.
My problem is that I have come to resent our clients. I resent telling the same clients, over and over, that the reason why their records and product images are not appearing at Amazon is because of missing or incorrectly formatted or populated records. These aren’t brand new clients unused to product management using a program like ours—these are clients who have been with the company as long as or longer than I have. I resent being told that learning this information is beneath clients, or that the way they’ve chosen to do things is better, regardless of best practices or the needs of accounts, or that underperforming products and the difficulty of the product management program are part of some secret conspiracy(!) to impede the client’s sales success. I didn't used to feel so resentful, and the level of confusion has actually gone down since I first started at this position, not up. I don't know why it's getting in the way of my work now.
We build (and are in the process of rebuilding) a series of documents and an online help portal to guide clients to what information is needed and where it needs to go in the system, and frequently our clients ignore it, or worse, they want us to do all of their work for them, the complete opposite of organizational capacity, and impossible with a total client list of nearly 200. They do the bare minimum and all but forget about their records until a problem is discovered somewhere or someone complains. They don't respond to reminders to turn in information and then complain to our sales and marketing staff about their sales, which might be better if their buyer- and consumer-facing information was complete and robust. Or the sales and marketing staff complain to us about customer information, suggesting that they were permitted to upload whatever they wanted (when in actuality they were notified about missing information as well as the potential cost of not turning it in, but it did not change the outcome).
I mentioned earlier that my team was 2 people and is now 3. Up until this summer my former boss J would respond to clients pushing our deadlines by bending over backward to accommodate them. J worked a lot of late nights and weekends in the past as a result, and I think some of our clients have taken advantage of her. J has also had a tendency of not letting me know when the rules were being relaxed or waived for a client, leading to a lot of embarrassing moments where I would receive something from a client, tell them that it was late or not in the correct format, only for J to respond to my email saying that it was ok, and due to the client’s exigent circumstances (which I had not been informed of) we were accepting the thing anyway, which I felt made us look bad. At one point I suggested informal regular meetings to prevent things like this from happening, but they did not stick. I came to resent J’s lack of communication with me as well. J tends to keep to themselves and does not engage in a lot of office chatter, and I accept that. Building a rapport and a regular flow of communication with her has been important to me, however, and continuing to not be told things about clients and their situations hurt, something that I’ve subsequently taken to my mid- and year-end reviews. When asked, J has mentioned that my emails sometimes indicate that I am losing patience with clients (something I really don’t want!). I have and continue to occasionally run emails and communications past J asking how to best handle situations or what to do next, and J’s response tends to be to take over and handle it herself.
J and I now report to a new supervisor, Q, who has been in the company longer than I have and whose work has been combined now with J’s and my department. Q has remarked that the amount of communication going out to clients about missing product information and how to fix it surprised him. I had been hoping that this would give him a full understanding of the difficult task of educating and wrangling data from clients, but as we have been undertaking the educational material rewriting project, he has remarked that the things that I write are “too philosophical” and “make better appendix material, going into the reasons why the client should do things.” My goal has been helping clients to understand the point of the data that we request and, gently, the potential repercussions of entering information incorrectly or incompletely, NOT to be punitive, but to try to prevent data problems before they happen. We now have weekly check-in meetings, but I find that I get talked over in them often, which is very frustrating (we are largely having them via Zoom as our office slowly migrates back to working at the office, which doesn’t help) and makes me feel like my input doesn’t really matter even though I am the person working with clients most to address the problems that the client portal materials are supposed to address.
I don’t know where to go from here. The rewriting project was my idea, and something that I had to re-request after initially being dismissed by our VP (and then the corporate overlords announced a UI "upgrade" that necessitated new screenshots, etc.), but I don’t really know if it’s ultimately going to help clients who have decided that reading our education materials isn’t worth their time, or that the way they’ve chosen to do product records is right, when it isn’t. I feel like our department has no other ideas about how to improve the client-product management experience despite it being a). our department’s job and b). a requested goal passed down from the corporate overlords. And I can hear my father’s voice in the back of my mind telling me to keep my mouth shut and let the supervisors lead, even if I don’t personally agree with their actions. But if I do that, how am I personally showing that I care about my job and want to grow in this company/industry? Is this a sign that I don’t really have what it takes after all?
Wouldn't it be easier to find a way of submitting their product info that was actually doable for the clients instead of forcing them to do it this specific way?
posted by bleep at 3:30 PM on October 26, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by bleep at 3:30 PM on October 26, 2021 [12 favorites]
Im sorry for my answer above because I know you didn't ask "how do I fix this?" But there's a lot to be fixed here and I don't see any connection to you having reached some "limit of effectiveness". This isn't a you problem, it's a them problem, and probably a fixable one.
posted by bleep at 3:32 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 3:32 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
I have similar issues with clients who won't read, make extremely stupid decisions, ignore my emails warning them about these issues, etc. I spend about 4 hours a day dealing with the messes from these people. I am sick of having the same conversations every day. I am super mad all the time.
I don't think I'm smart enough to comprehend the technicalities of your job, but I'm going to guess that you maybe can't(?) just do 100% of their work for them and you need them to cooperate with you on some level and it's a "HELP ME HELP YOU" situation?
Unfortunately, there isn't shit you can do about clients who can't or won't read or won't get it or whatever. I can't get any better assistance than I've already got with all my problems, so I think the only option is "find a way to be less emotionally invested." Or find another job, hah hah (not an option for me). You can't fix them, you can only change yourself. I don't think it's a question of "you're no longer good at your job," it's people choosing to make poor decisions like not reading.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:33 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
I don't think I'm smart enough to comprehend the technicalities of your job, but I'm going to guess that you maybe can't(?) just do 100% of their work for them and you need them to cooperate with you on some level and it's a "HELP ME HELP YOU" situation?
Unfortunately, there isn't shit you can do about clients who can't or won't read or won't get it or whatever. I can't get any better assistance than I've already got with all my problems, so I think the only option is "find a way to be less emotionally invested." Or find another job, hah hah (not an option for me). You can't fix them, you can only change yourself. I don't think it's a question of "you're no longer good at your job," it's people choosing to make poor decisions like not reading.
posted by jenfullmoon at 3:33 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
I think you should go work for one of your clients as the person who should be doing all the work you are begging them to do. Or maybe set up a consulting company of your own and do it for several of your firm's clients. Your firm not only does not lose business, it will possibly gain some, you get paid more, the client is happy because they don't get nagged and can offload it onto you as a priority higher than it is getting now. Win-win-win.
posted by AugustWest at 3:54 PM on October 26, 2021 [22 favorites]
posted by AugustWest at 3:54 PM on October 26, 2021 [22 favorites]
I think when people start burning out at a job, developing contempt or resentment for clients, cringing at various aspects of the work, feeling unappreciated, and so on, it's time to find another job if at all possible. It sounds like your skills are plenty portable and you could grow in any number of industries or directions. Part of "what it takes" is knowing when to go do something else, whether permanently or just for a while.
posted by trig at 4:51 PM on October 26, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by trig at 4:51 PM on October 26, 2021 [15 favorites]
I recommend you take a look at Edward Tufte's book called "Envisioning Information" for a change of perspective and some new insights. Strive for pairing down your explanations for simplicity; any visual information you provide should support your explanation.
I worked for an art materials company that owns nine brands. I had to interface with manufacturers in the UK, France, China, US and India. A sales force scattered across these geographies. Competitive brand managers that stole ideas from each other and individual businesses. Every group had a different agenda, they were often unwilling to consider other perspectives, and undermined the efforts of the other departments.
None of them wanted to interact with the customers, that is, individual artists because none of them knew much about how to work with the product they were making, and were only concerned with price points, end caps and ship dates.
Talking with the individual artists was a chore for me at first, but I learned to anticipate the pattern of the conversation and manage the outcome, but it required learning detachment on my part.
Often artists are convinced that if they don't know anything about technical painting methods, they will make some quantum creative leap that has never been done before. They would have a mess in front of them and they wanted my help, but were convinced I would steal their idea. In reality, they had made a really common error, but deny it until I described the problem for an hour, they would admit to it. I just learned to let the whole drama play out as part of my job. It was a waste of my time but part of my job.
I mean this very kindly and respectfully: your explanation above is more detailed than most managers or customers would find helpful. If you can edit the application of your job down to simple, easy to follow graphics that support your explanation, I think you will find that your work flow, and that of your managers and your clients will be more effective.
Tufte is a great author to look at for ideas. Good luck.
posted by effluvia at 5:27 PM on October 26, 2021 [14 favorites]
I worked for an art materials company that owns nine brands. I had to interface with manufacturers in the UK, France, China, US and India. A sales force scattered across these geographies. Competitive brand managers that stole ideas from each other and individual businesses. Every group had a different agenda, they were often unwilling to consider other perspectives, and undermined the efforts of the other departments.
None of them wanted to interact with the customers, that is, individual artists because none of them knew much about how to work with the product they were making, and were only concerned with price points, end caps and ship dates.
Talking with the individual artists was a chore for me at first, but I learned to anticipate the pattern of the conversation and manage the outcome, but it required learning detachment on my part.
Often artists are convinced that if they don't know anything about technical painting methods, they will make some quantum creative leap that has never been done before. They would have a mess in front of them and they wanted my help, but were convinced I would steal their idea. In reality, they had made a really common error, but deny it until I described the problem for an hour, they would admit to it. I just learned to let the whole drama play out as part of my job. It was a waste of my time but part of my job.
I mean this very kindly and respectfully: your explanation above is more detailed than most managers or customers would find helpful. If you can edit the application of your job down to simple, easy to follow graphics that support your explanation, I think you will find that your work flow, and that of your managers and your clients will be more effective.
Tufte is a great author to look at for ideas. Good luck.
posted by effluvia at 5:27 PM on October 26, 2021 [14 favorites]
You have developed an adversarial attitude to your customers. You may be right, and you probably are, but you can't win. Empathy - envisioning their needs, seeing them as ordinary people with strengths and flaw - may help. Finding a way to build all the stuff they simply aren't going to do into the services for which you get paid is a good response. I suspect that it might help for you to be a bit more self-aggrandizing, a touch arrogant, very proud of what you do, your expertise, etc., so you don't get trod on.
posted by theora55 at 5:51 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by theora55 at 5:51 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
It sounds like there's a disconnect between what your company is selling and what your customers think they are buying. You and your company feel like you are selling a product and expertise how to use the product; the customer thinks that they are buying a fully-managed service where the company handles everything.
From a business perspective, the answer is to just charge the customers that need more services, more money. And scale up hiring correspondingly. If the customers don't want to pay more money but they demand more and more time and resources, then it makes sense to fire them as a customer.
But you, personally, should not bear the disconnect between what your company provides and what the company wants, by working longer than normal hours or by being blamed for things that are not in your control. If the expectations are unreasonable and your management doesn't want to change the situation, then it's time to push back to clarify your primary job duties and possibly that of your department.
posted by meowzilla at 5:58 PM on October 26, 2021 [17 favorites]
From a business perspective, the answer is to just charge the customers that need more services, more money. And scale up hiring correspondingly. If the customers don't want to pay more money but they demand more and more time and resources, then it makes sense to fire them as a customer.
But you, personally, should not bear the disconnect between what your company provides and what the company wants, by working longer than normal hours or by being blamed for things that are not in your control. If the expectations are unreasonable and your management doesn't want to change the situation, then it's time to push back to clarify your primary job duties and possibly that of your department.
posted by meowzilla at 5:58 PM on October 26, 2021 [17 favorites]
None of the issues you are having at your job speak to your ability. You seem to clearly understand your job and goals and be able to execute on all of it. You also see where you are encountering friction and barriers in your job. This isn't a competence question - it's a is this job a fit for my temperament question, since your real challenge is your own frustration with elements of the job you feel are not functioning efficiently, whether that be the product, your clients, or your company's workflows.
Whether or not you "have what it takes" in this instance with depend on what you're willing or not willing to adjust in your own approach to your work to match the needs of your supervisor and clients. From the side of your supervisor, he doesn't seem to believe that you can teach your clients how to avoid their mistakes in the way you are attempting, and even without being in the seat, I tend to agree with him. In my experience, all jobs that are client facing will have bad clients who will ignore documentation, repeat mistakes, and be generally needy, more so usually if they are smaller operations where the money they spend for your service is a big expense for them. I say this having been the you in the jobs I've had, writing and rewriting instructions, frustrated by product issues, and resentful of my "dumb clients" ... until I saw it over and over with other products and clients and companies. It turns out this is just part of account management, and people who can handle being client facing generally embrace meeting their clients where they are and view their job as whatever they need to do to get each task complete, because you can't control how other people behave.
Ultimately you need to decide if you can find a way to make this job emotionally manageable for you, which I think would first require that you reframe what you think your job is each day. Whether or not you've been given lofty goals, your actual job is getting the client's assets up, and trying to effectively execute your bosses' vision of projects while not losing your mind. If you can do that, you have what it takes. If not, move on and find a better fit! Companies and bosses have different values and cultures, you aren't required to conform to this one.
posted by amycup at 6:17 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Whether or not you "have what it takes" in this instance with depend on what you're willing or not willing to adjust in your own approach to your work to match the needs of your supervisor and clients. From the side of your supervisor, he doesn't seem to believe that you can teach your clients how to avoid their mistakes in the way you are attempting, and even without being in the seat, I tend to agree with him. In my experience, all jobs that are client facing will have bad clients who will ignore documentation, repeat mistakes, and be generally needy, more so usually if they are smaller operations where the money they spend for your service is a big expense for them. I say this having been the you in the jobs I've had, writing and rewriting instructions, frustrated by product issues, and resentful of my "dumb clients" ... until I saw it over and over with other products and clients and companies. It turns out this is just part of account management, and people who can handle being client facing generally embrace meeting their clients where they are and view their job as whatever they need to do to get each task complete, because you can't control how other people behave.
Ultimately you need to decide if you can find a way to make this job emotionally manageable for you, which I think would first require that you reframe what you think your job is each day. Whether or not you've been given lofty goals, your actual job is getting the client's assets up, and trying to effectively execute your bosses' vision of projects while not losing your mind. If you can do that, you have what it takes. If not, move on and find a better fit! Companies and bosses have different values and cultures, you aren't required to conform to this one.
posted by amycup at 6:17 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
This could be way off base, but are your “educational materials” purely in written form?
Speaking as a former Technical writer - people don’t read (much), and they really don't read lengthy documentation.
Consider looking into some instructional design courses, they may help you understand better where the disconnect is.
Also be sure you are showing how, not just telling : so lots of screenshots with callouts, etc.
One last idea is to do some short (2-3 minute) video demos of how to do x. Camtasia (a product by Techsmith) is really good for this, and not super-hard to learn.
Best of luck!
posted by dbmcd at 6:33 PM on October 26, 2021 [6 favorites]
Speaking as a former Technical writer - people don’t read (much), and they really don't read lengthy documentation.
Consider looking into some instructional design courses, they may help you understand better where the disconnect is.
Also be sure you are showing how, not just telling : so lots of screenshots with callouts, etc.
One last idea is to do some short (2-3 minute) video demos of how to do x. Camtasia (a product by Techsmith) is really good for this, and not super-hard to learn.
Best of luck!
posted by dbmcd at 6:33 PM on October 26, 2021 [6 favorites]
Have you tried doing it your boss’s way? By the time folks are reading the documentation, they’re already convinced that they need to do it the correct way and want to get it over with as quickly as possible. (I also want to explain the “why” in similar things, and I have to restrain myself.)
+1 it sounds like you’re burning out, if you previously liked your job, find a way to take some time off and decompress
posted by momus_window at 10:08 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
+1 it sounds like you’re burning out, if you previously liked your job, find a way to take some time off and decompress
posted by momus_window at 10:08 PM on October 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
makes me feel like my input doesn’t really matter even though I am the person working with clients most
As someone in a maybe related industry: Honestly, I think your supervisor is the problem and his behaviour is finally bringing the pot to boil. You're overworked, underappreciated and you may be heading towards burnout.
What worked for me is looking for a new job because it reminded me that I have options and my skills are, in fact, highly sought.
posted by Omnomnom at 10:21 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
As someone in a maybe related industry: Honestly, I think your supervisor is the problem and his behaviour is finally bringing the pot to boil. You're overworked, underappreciated and you may be heading towards burnout.
What worked for me is looking for a new job because it reminded me that I have options and my skills are, in fact, highly sought.
posted by Omnomnom at 10:21 PM on October 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
I can imagine myself being a client who does all the wrong things. So I'm slightly approaching it with that in mind. I think part of the job you are doing is smoothing over as much as possible the ways in which your clients are getting it wrong. They are probably not going to be as keen on paying money for a service that makes them feel incompetent even when or perhaps especially if they are in fact being incompetent.
I also think that I might agree with Q. Instructions that are short, clear and easy to follow are good. Different formats of the same information (written / pictorial / video) help different people. Unless I am very engaged in a product, I don't really want to know all the reasons it is the way it is. If I'm one of your struggling clients, I am almost by definition, not engaged in the product. Putting that winder contextual information in an appendix is a good idea. It's there for people that want more, without cluttering the main instructions.
Client facing work is hard, and having the same things happen over and over for years is irritating. There's nothing wrong with looking to see what's out there in the form of a new job. Otherwise I'd probably suggest having a reasonably open conversation with Q and trying to find shared goals with them. You probably both want to spend less time dealing with the same shit, and Q may have good ideas about how to do that. Or, Q's ideas may not be any good, but at least you'll know what you're in for and you can work out how to make your problems Q's problems so that they are more likely to get fixed.
posted by plonkee at 5:29 AM on October 27, 2021
I also think that I might agree with Q. Instructions that are short, clear and easy to follow are good. Different formats of the same information (written / pictorial / video) help different people. Unless I am very engaged in a product, I don't really want to know all the reasons it is the way it is. If I'm one of your struggling clients, I am almost by definition, not engaged in the product. Putting that winder contextual information in an appendix is a good idea. It's there for people that want more, without cluttering the main instructions.
Client facing work is hard, and having the same things happen over and over for years is irritating. There's nothing wrong with looking to see what's out there in the form of a new job. Otherwise I'd probably suggest having a reasonably open conversation with Q and trying to find shared goals with them. You probably both want to spend less time dealing with the same shit, and Q may have good ideas about how to do that. Or, Q's ideas may not be any good, but at least you'll know what you're in for and you can work out how to make your problems Q's problems so that they are more likely to get fixed.
posted by plonkee at 5:29 AM on October 27, 2021
I worked for a company that got its start by dealing with unusual customer requests that established companies didnt have time for. It was our competitive advantage. Just saying .....
posted by SemiSalt at 5:45 AM on October 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by SemiSalt at 5:45 AM on October 27, 2021 [1 favorite]
There's awesome advice in this thread and I just made notes of books to read and terms to google. I think your supervisor should hire a technical writer or designer to do the instructions. Another small addition to add to the great advice here: your post is clear you are taking this personally. That's a sign you need a break. Because this problem is about your job, it's not about you. I think you need some perspective on this job as it fits in your life and overall goals, but you can't get that until you can get r&r.
I would take some leave or at least a week vacation if you possibly can, and then when you return, start seriously reaching out to people in your network and asking for a lunch or coffee date, etc to get their advice. Ask them quesitons like, "What have you done when you were feeling burned out? Or that people aren't listening to your expertise? How do you deal with setbacks in your work day?"
So the steps are 1) At least a week off. No work emails or texts. 2) Talk to peers and friends about general burnout advice. 3) These talks may lead to a job offer or a career change suggestion. Consider this very carefully and this may help you decide if you actually do like your job or not. If no job leads present, apply for other jobs with a clearer idea of what you're looking for. This will help you decide if the problem is something you want to address or find a new job. Friends may also suggest a good job coach or training program when you talk to them, and sometimes those recommendations can be really helpful.
posted by areaperson at 8:31 AM on October 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
I would take some leave or at least a week vacation if you possibly can, and then when you return, start seriously reaching out to people in your network and asking for a lunch or coffee date, etc to get their advice. Ask them quesitons like, "What have you done when you were feeling burned out? Or that people aren't listening to your expertise? How do you deal with setbacks in your work day?"
So the steps are 1) At least a week off. No work emails or texts. 2) Talk to peers and friends about general burnout advice. 3) These talks may lead to a job offer or a career change suggestion. Consider this very carefully and this may help you decide if you actually do like your job or not. If no job leads present, apply for other jobs with a clearer idea of what you're looking for. This will help you decide if the problem is something you want to address or find a new job. Friends may also suggest a good job coach or training program when you talk to them, and sometimes those recommendations can be really helpful.
posted by areaperson at 8:31 AM on October 27, 2021 [3 favorites]
Any time the provider/client relationship relies on the clients reading info, remembering processes, following steps etc. - it's doomed to fail. It just is.
Client-side people do not read. They may try, and they may do OK for a while, but over time they just stop. People are used to apps that make them tap 3 time max on big fat buttons and poof! it's all done. My IT job is proof of this. And if at any time a client person magically gets good at it, you can bet that person will move on to another job just after you started to rely on them.
If the culture and the relationship cannot change, then I think you have to change. I am sorry this is happening- I am near where you are, but not quite there yet. The struggle is real.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 8:41 AM on October 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
Client-side people do not read. They may try, and they may do OK for a while, but over time they just stop. People are used to apps that make them tap 3 time max on big fat buttons and poof! it's all done. My IT job is proof of this. And if at any time a client person magically gets good at it, you can bet that person will move on to another job just after you started to rely on them.
If the culture and the relationship cannot change, then I think you have to change. I am sorry this is happening- I am near where you are, but not quite there yet. The struggle is real.
posted by I_Love_Bananas at 8:41 AM on October 27, 2021 [2 favorites]
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posted by showbiz_liz at 3:15 PM on October 26, 2021 [13 favorites]