It seems like I have been faced with a number of decisions lately. I guess when you think about it, every day is just one big bundle of decisions strung together into a short twenty four hour period. Do I get up or stay in bed? Cereal or oatmeal for breakfast? Take the car or take the truck to work? The list is never ending.
Last week I wrote this post about Decision Paralysis. It's something I have struggled with for quite some time and I think a lot of us face it throughout our lives. There is always that genuine fear of making the wrong choice and then having to deal with the consequences.
Trust me, I've been in the position where I made the wrong choice. It's definitely no fun. The most notable one I can think of right now is getting @mrsbozz the Samsung Galaxy S21+ phone when she needed a new one. Then having to listen to her complain about how much the phone sucks every week for the past two years.
Okay, maybe not that, much, and I know she it's probably just something she says and she doesn't actually hate the phone. It still stings a little every time she says that because I was just making the best decision I could at the time with the knowledge I had available to me.
Decisions can really suck sometimes. This week, I was faced with a different kind of decision. It happened at work as is the case with a lot of these decisions. I guess that's the price you pay when you are the manager of a department.
The reason I say this decision is unique is because it's one of those ones where you know not a single person is going to be happy with it.
But you have to make the decision anyway.
The person I actually feel the most sorry for in this case is @mrsbozz. Since we work in the same place, she will likely be the one that hears the brunt of the negativity from this decision I made. They would never say it to my face. Heavens no, instead it will be passive aggressive emails and conversations with their colleagues in public spaces where anyone can hear their real feelings about what I just did.
By now you might be thinking that it's something fundamentally Earth shattering, but really it's not. Instead it's something pretty benign that I hope will make a huge difference down the road.
I implemented secure printing via a pin code system on the copy machines where I work.
This is honestly something we have needed for a long time now. My end users print way too much and hopefully this will make them think a little more before they click that print button. It's actually a smart move beyond that as well. No longer will teachers have potentially sensitive information sitting out in the open on the copier waiting for them to pick it up.
Likewise, no longer will someones 200 page copy job end up with someones print they sent from their classroom smack in the middle of it. In the grand scheme of things, this is a really good thing. Unfortunately, many users won't be able to look past the two extra steps they have to perform at the copier each time they want to retrieve their documents.
It's one of those things where this is the best decision no matter how you look at it. Infosec, resource management, etc, but it's still going to be one of the dumbest things I have ever done if you talk to the end users.
I was actually a little shocked the other day that I received an email from one person talking about how happy they are we are finally doing this. I didn't expect to get any of those even though I have explained the benefits ad nauseum to the end users. I replied back and expressed my immense gratitude.
It's a new dawn where I work, will my end users survive this massive change?
Will I?
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