Question? (02.25.09)

There was one question specifically that I wanted to take a paragraph to answer on the prompt sheet.

17. What type of problems, if any, has the student encountered, and what problem solving techniques have been useful for the student?

It is not a problem so much as a frustration. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the office has no real system in place. This is most apparent when interns come rolling into the office in the morning and no one knows what they are supposed to be doing. So a line forms outside of the boss’ door and she has to deal with each person individually, with time wasted that the others could have been working away on something else. This system is inefficient to say the least. I was at a loss for a week as to how to approach my boss about this. Taking into consideration the way in which the office is run and the fact that my boss is juggling a large amount of tasks, I decided to take it into my own hands.

I established a system for the office. There is a white board hanging outside of the office with tasks for each intern and a binder with a list of everyday things (checking phone messages, checking emails, updating webpage, etc…) that any intern who is available needs to complete. As basic as it sounds, this system has dramatically improved the efficiency of the interns and the weight off my boss’ shoulders.