[5563] in APO Printshop
Re: Wedding invitations - late fees + accepting jobsy
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Cat Thu Nguyen Huu)
Thu Jan 29 04:29:45 2009
Cc: apo-printshop@MIT.EDU, Mitchell E Berger <mitchb@MIT.EDU>,
Jennifer Tu <jtu@MIT.EDU>, Lori Tsuruda <lori@pmd.org>
From: Cat Thu Nguyen Huu <catthu@MIT.EDU>
To: "Leonard H Tower Jr." <tower@alum.MIT.EDU>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.4.64L.0901281852510.19872@stavromula-beta.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:29:17 -0500
For several reasons, I don't think that this will work better. Like
Mitch said, it's easy to be in the situation where everyone assumes
that it's somebody else's problem, and we may just fail to inform the
client that we won't be able to take the job. Also, in the case that
more than one person want to take the job, is letting the first person
to claim it do it the best approach? What if someone thinks "I guess I
wouldn't have a problem, but I don't really want to. I'd like to do it
only if no one else is. Should I claim the job or not?"
I see your point that having to communicate through a third person
prolongs the process. However, I do check my emails very often,
probably too often to be healthy, like several times a day. I didn't
read and reply about the Reg Day cards in a most timely manner because
I knew they were there but put them aside to be solved later, not
because I haven't checked my mails for a week. I understand that this
makes my ability to tackling things on time questionable; however most
of the time I do not have as much to do as I had in the recent week
and I know how to prioritize my incoming emails efficiently.
If the press operator would like to discuss directly with the client
about the job, they're welcomed to arrange an appointment and do so -
such conversations are not effective over emails anyways. Other than
that and the initial process of getting a press op and the final
process of collecting the fees and returning the cards, I don't think
there are other things we need to talk to the client about. Please let
me know if I'm missing something.
Also, just in case it wasn't clear, that question in my previous email
is not a rhetoric question. I'm aware of ways in which the approach I
proposed is inefficient, and I'm more than happy if someone comes up
with something better.
Cat
On Jan 28, 2009, at 7:33 PM, Leonard H Tower Jr. wrote:
> i respectfully disagree with jtu and mitchb
> though i'm happy to see cat fulfill her responsibilities
> as print shop manager (psm) as she sees fit
>
> the old practice works better for the client
>
> why?
> because if a press op takes the job right away,
> the client only deals with one person.
> and the psm has less to do
> (delegation to either self-starters or assistants,
> is good leadership)
>
> it also encourages each press op to take more responsibility
> (become responsible and a self starter),
> which is leadership development
>
> often the client will get faster response,
> when a press op takes the job,
> before the psm handles their email
>
> it also provides more redundancy,
> when a psm doesn't log in and handle all requests @ least once a day.
> (the psm should make sure someone covers for them,
> if they can't handle their email @ least once a day)
>
> some psm's have "appointed" a co-psm to help them out
>
> sometime a press-op steps forward,
> if the psm appears to be absent
>
> ---
>
> practice in the past has generally been:
>
> the job request gets emailed to apo-printshop@mit.edu
>
> if (a press op tells apo-printshop they take the job within a day or
> so)
> then
> press op talks with the client, and does the job
> Cc:ing the psm on all relevant messages
> (note Cc:ing apo-printshop includes the psm,
> and there is not alot of traffic now)
> else
> if (the psm finds a press op)
> then
> press op talks with the client, and does the job
> Cc:ing the psm on all messages
> else
> the psm tells the client, APOster can't do the job
> endif
> endif
>
> the psm communicates with the client within a day or two of the
> request, and as necessary after that about how the search is going
>
> the psm decides how long to hold open a search,
> depending on the client
>
> the psm keeps an eye that the job is getting done
>
> yiLFS -len
>
> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 10:41:28 -0500 (EST)
> From: Jennifer Tu <jtu@MIT.EDU>
>
>> If it's not feasible or efficient for the PSM to act as a go-
>> between among
>> press ops and potential customers, then what's a more feasible and
>> efficient way? How should a potential customer get in touch and
>> communicate
>> with a press operator?
>
> I think it's really great that our new Press Shop Overlord is
> tackling this
> problem :) If we do want to be serious about providing press shop
> services
> as a service to the MIT community, we need to be able to say 'yes'
> or 'no' in
> a reasonable period of time. Otherwise, efforts to publicize
> ourselves as a
> service will be anti-effort, since word of mouth will just say
> "oh, they
> never reply in a reasonable timeframe".
>
> If we're not serious about providing this service, the Press Shop
> should
> probably explicitly communicate to the chapter that it does not
> wish to be
> advertised as a service to the MIT community.
>
> --Jennifer
>
>
>
> Date: Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:49:39 -0500
> From: Mitchell E Berger <mitchb@MIT.EDU>
> To: Jennifer Tu <jtu@mit.edu>
> Cc: Cat Thu Nguyen Huu <catthu@mit.edu>, Lori Tsuruda
> <lori@pmd.org>,
> apo-printshop@mit.edu
> Subject: Re: Wedding invitations - late fees + accepting jobs
>
>>> If it's not feasible or efficient for the PSM to act as a go-
>>> between among
>>> press ops and potential customers, then what's a more feasible and
>>> efficient
>>> way? How should a potential customer get in touch and communicate
>>> with a
>>> press operator?
>>
>> I think it's really great that our new Press Shop Overlord is
>> tackling
>> this problem :) If we do want to be serious about providing press
>> shop
>> services as a service to the MIT community, we need to be able to say
>> 'yes' or 'no' in a reasonable period of time. Otherwise, efforts to
>> publicize ourselves as a service will be anti-effort, since word of
>> mouth
>> will just say "oh, they never reply in a reasonable timeframe".
>>
>> If we're not serious about providing this service, the Press Shop
>> should
>> probably explicitly communicate to the chapter that it does not
>> wish to be
>> advertised as a service to the MIT community.
>
> What Jen said. The APO Printshop needs a reliable uniform
> external face
> to people who approach us without knowing much about our internals
> (and
> they shouldn't need to know much about our internals to hire us). I
> think this is one of the most valuable and critical things that the
> Printshop Manager can provide to help us actually be a respected
> service
> that people make use of, and Cat is doing it well. We all know that
> sending mail to a sizable list where there isn't someone clearly
> designated as "in charge" and the people on the list have widely
> varying
> degrees of hosage, lameness, and skills, results in inconsistent
> answers
> or lack of replies because everyone figured it was someone else's
> problem.
>
> Cat has accepted making us look responsive and responsible as her
> problem,
> and she's tackling it successfully. I think we should be thanking
> her
> for making us look good.
>
> Mitch
>
>
