Got roped into "newsletter" team at work. Don't like it...

Dr. Frenchenstein

So there is a push for more communication in my office, and one of the "action items" is a group newsletter. somehow i got nominated. i don't really want to be involved, but i'll take one for the team... anyway, so my piece is a "tech tip" since i'm half IT and half accountant. So i wrote a 390 word thing explaining vlookups. the lady running the team (the "editor")said it was too long. so i shortened it to 258. still too long, she suggested briefly explaining what it does, then a link to my longer article explaining how to do one.... part of me is like: i might as well just tell them to google it...either give me a word limit, or chop it up yourself. the rest of me wants to bow out of the newsletter altogether as it looks like shit, is 99% stupid, and i honestly don't want to be involved.

ever had to be in a group at work that you didn't want to be? is there a professional way to get out of it?

Bowen

Dr. Frenchenstein wrote: »

So there is a push for more communication in my office, and one of the "action items" is a group newsletter. somehow i got nominated. i don't really want to be involved, but i'll take one for the team... anyway, so my piece is a "tech tip" since i'm half IT and half accountant. So i wrote a 390 word thing explaining vlookups. the lady running the team (the "editor")said it was too long. so i shortened it to 258. still too long, she suggested briefly explaining what it does, then a link to my longer article explaining how to do one.... part of me is like: i might as well just tell them to google it...either give me a word limit, or chop it up yourself. the rest of me wants to bow out of the newsletter altogether as it looks like shit, is 99% stupid, and i honestly don't want to be involved.

ever had to be in a group at work that you didn't want to be? is there a professional way to get out of it?

"Sorry I'm not even sure who nominated me, but I have no interest in playing back and forth and continuing working on this newsletter article for you."

No matter what you say and how you say it, it's going to come back on you for not being a team player. But sometimes you have to not be a team player when your teammate keeps acting like Lucy yanking the ball away from you when you go for the kick.

Pantshandshake

Or, just do a 'meh' job until the newsletter inevitably stops being a thing your overlords feel should be tying up valuable time.

LostNinja

I've never been in this situation, but I would say that the best course of action is to stomach it for now, and just wait it out until they get tired of doing it (probably in a couple of months). This way you don't come off looking unprofessional or not a team player by quitting.

Unknown

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ChillyWilly

Ask for more specific guidelines about what they expect from you. Hope they give them to you. If not, suck it up and wait for it to die.

Then stretch it out for use on a resume for the future.

"Facilitated the education of co-workers through a team newsletter" or whatever jargon you wish to apply to the situation.

Make chicken salad out of chicken shit, as they say.

Holler

If it were me, I would take her requesting me to just phone it in as permission to phone it in.

Ask her for a word limit for all contributions going forward, and if she insists that that is beyond her capability, restate what you are going to be doing to her and have her confirm right up front that what you are doing for this newsletter from now on is: writing two to three sentences about a topic, then giving a website. If she confirms that that is what she is looking for, just do that and don't put even a hint of additional thought or effort in.

Is it stupid? Very. Is it a pointless waste of resources? Yup. But spending a minute writing three throwaway sentences is probably going to be easier than trying to look like a team player while quitting the team activity, and less of a waste of time than continuing to try and make useful something that sounds like it was designed to be an exercise in futility.

tapeslinger

I'm in the "phone it in if that's what she's asking you to do" camp, because that's what it sounds like to me. It sounds like she wants you to basically LMGTFY without the snazzy animation, so I would take that as permission to: explain what the resource is, what it's useful for in the office, and how to learn more about it.

Magell

I think it's almost impossible not to phone it in with the word count limit you are being given. Unless you make the tips completely meaningless. Next time send in something about remembering to save your work.

WonderMink

How is vlookup a tip?

"Use the combination of the Alt and Tab keys to quickly change through program windows." That is a tip.

. Simple, one sentence.f you can boil vlookup to one or two sentences it can be a tip, but it is an advanced usage of a program so good luck with that.

Keep it simpler.

MichaelLC

I agree with JebusUD. Keep it to some simple tip for browsing or Office. "F9 to refresh Outlook." Bam! Could be a little longer but some quick shortcut.

Deebaser

Here's one: "Holding the Alt key and then pressing D-F-F will add filters to your spreadsheets"

Wow
Such contribute
So teamplayer

MagicToaster

I was in one of these email newsletter things, and I hated every single edition. I don't suggest doing a half-assed job because you never know where future opportunities could come from. In my case, after I quit that job, I was offered a contract to keep doing the newsletter freelanced. I charged them a bunch to do it.

I suggest to deal with your editor via email. This way, you have a record of your production timeline in case things went south. In my old company we called this CYA, Cover Your Ass.

Save yourself some grief and stop writing long articles. If I were you, I'd write very short "tech-bits". Things like 5 top keyboard shortcuts or adjusting the font size on your browser are simple and easy to write. If I were you, I'd also let users generate ideas for me by closing with "got any tech questions? Email the Dr!"

If you write 4 of these on monday, you're done for the rest of the month.

WiseManTobes

Ya , never underestimate how low end a tip has to be to be something someone doesn't know in the office. I used to just tell people ~ was the "any" key

illig

don't purposely fuck up the work assignment - i know it's 'volunteer work' but all too often that kind of extra curricular crap becomes the deciding factor in much more important decisions like promotions or better jobs.

and i'd second the super simple one sentence tip instead (like the ones listed by other posters above). every week, blow their minds by letting them know that Alt+PrntScrn only takes a picture of the current window, or that Win+Arrow will align windows so you can very quickly put two documents side by side (this one is truly amazing to folks for some reason)

Thundyrkatz

I am in the camp of try to do the best job you can, you never know who is looking.

It sounds like your definition of a tech tip and the editors differs, maybe she is looking more for something like what was suggested above. A quick 1 or 2 liner... "flip back and forth between open windows with Alt+Tab."

Also, never underestimate how poorly the average person understands how to use their computer.

Donovan Puppyfucker

The best thing about being roped into a work newsletter is that after a couple of issues at the most, no-one gives a flying fuck and management realises it was a stupid idea and a waste of time and money, and so the newsletter dies in a fire.

SunDragon

Yeah, used to do these, like everyone else, not fun. Much like you I started with longer things(though not quite as long as yours), and got little feed back. Eventually I cut it down to stuff like "Did you know if you are out of the office and want to check your voicemail do these steps...."(and other simple shit I thought was just common knowledge) and I started getting positive feedback. Eventually the whole news letter died out a few months later and I didnt have to worry about it again.

Dr. Frenchenstein

yeah sounds like i should simplify things, and get more bite size. ugh. will do!

Donovan Puppyfucker

If it's longer than a paragraph, they'll have trouble manipulating it in Publisher anyway.

Phone it in. It won't make any difference in the long run.

Dr. Frenchenstein

instead of something useful, now people will learn how to jump to the end of data. (well, still useful, but... durr)

mods, feel free to close! thanks everybody!