Sunday, March 23, 2008

I hear the trees a-cryin

Say the word "committee" and people roll their eyes. It's one of those corporate things. It's where ideas and intelligence go to die.

But I am learning these days, the hard way, the value of a committee.

The boss recently asked me to prepare a packet of letters to be mailed out to all the parents in the school district where I work. I didn't think to involve anyone else -- to form one of those aforementioned committees for advice and support.

Neither did I consider that, even though we have a small school district, of 4000 kids, a letter to every parent -- an 11 page letter to every parent -- becomes an enormous project.

It was one hell of a week.

6 comments:

Janice Thomson said...

LOL...sorry but an 11-page letter x 4000 is indeed a heap of work. Hope you are enjoying the weekend at least.

Eastcoastdweller said...

Thank You, Janice. The weekend has been wonderful.

Cristina said...

Wait.. you had to write an 11-page letter for each of those people or had to work on a template and personalize it, or just mail the same stuff 4000 times?

The latter seems pretty horrible, but the first one looks like a task nobody should ever be forced to do.

I hope that intern of yours helped out :P

Eastcoastdweller said...

I had to design a packet of letters, a template, about eleven different subjects. Had to photocopy this packet 4,000 times. Then had to mail the whole mess to 4,000 people.

L the intern was very helpful, Trisia. I am so glad I agreed to take Her on and I only wish that She could be paid for Her hard work, but I don't have the authority to make that happen.

Chase March said...

I still hate committees. And staff meetings. It seems like nothing ever gets done. Sometimes it is just more efficient to do it yourself and recruit a little help.

The good news is that it is over now right? You got it done. Good job!

Rebecca said...

Oooph! That was a hell of a project. So sorry you chose to go it alone! While committees are horrendous for coming up with ideas and ways to implement them, they can be very helpful once the task has been laid out. Nothing like assembly line production, hence the axiom many hands make for lighter work :)