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Got roped into "newsletter" team at work. Don't like it...
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?
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"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.
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.
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.
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"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.
but they're listening to every word I say
Wow
Such contribute
So teamplayer
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.
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)
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.
Phone it in. It won't make any difference in the long run.
mods, feel free to close! thanks everybody!