Chris WolfeNov 30
Jess👾

My spicy take of the day:

Bring.
Back.
Administrative Assistants.

For fucks sake, have people in the office who are literally professionals in drafting and editing memos, scheduling meetings, figuring out travel, coordination with other folks, hell, making a good cup of coffee. It's IMPORTANT WORK!

Nov 29 at 7:01pmWeb
Show threadNicks WorldNov 29
@JessTheUnstill I'd love doing that job personally.
Show threadepiloniousNov 29

@JessTheUnstill I have somehow turned from a developer into office emotional support coworker who reports all the fucked up things in the shiny new building (leaking faucets! bug infestations!) and let everyone know where I saw a stapler/papercutter and how to set up the printer that doesn't suck.

I just also happen to do it in the digital space (fucking Atlassian...)

Show threadMcNeelyNov 29
@JessTheUnstill I think some of the job titles in this area have changed to Chief of Staff. I worked at a company who hired someone for this role and while I think there was some expectations things would run smoother *everyone* was amazed at how much better things got.
Show threadPiers BeckleyNov 29

@JessTheUnstill Cannot agree too much about how important this is.

Was my first hire when setting up a team from scratch for the BBC and I’d do it the same way again.

Show threadC1S0Nov 29
@JessTheUnstill This! Ditto for real Project Managers. You know, that know how to manage projects!
Show threadWillow (she/her)Nov 29
@JessTheUnstill this is my favourite job to do. Capitalizes on all of my specific skills. So hard to find now.
Show threadrowmyboatNov 29
@JessTheUnstill oh my god yes, instead of making every employee also know how to & spend their time doing those things, in which they are not specialized.
Show threadMegan Lynch (she/her)Nov 29

@JessTheUnstill Sadly, it ain't paid like it's important work unless they're assistants to executives. aka why I have no retirement savings.

Also pretty disrespected by co-workers in departments who regularly get praised for what THEY do.

Show threadCallistoNov 30
@meganL @JessTheUnstill The fact that they've been phased out is just evidence that the execs didn't think their work was real. Pretty much like the dweebs who think a SAHM watches soaps and eats bonbons all day. Middle managers then went through a phase of doing the extra work poorly or not at all, now the techbros have the idea their machines can do that heavily gendered work so much better.
Show threadmarlies Nov 30
@JessTheUnstill @irina i think about this a lot as a ton of criticism i get wouldn’t have been solved if we traveled back 30 years to a time where all that stuff would have been managed for me
Show threadJust GreasyNov 30

@JessTheUnstill

Not sure how this post came to me, but I agree -- in any company I've ever worked for, these people were the glue holding everything together. They got all the i's dotted and t's crossed, they picked up all the slack, and they were the only ones with any context on how things really ran.

Whenever I was a new employee, they were always the most crucial people to me, often helping out with some variation of "Oh, don't take that to so-and-so. I know that's what you're *supposed to do* but it's just going to sit on their desk.

Here, let me call <random person> who actually knows about these things and will help you".

Show threadNate AllenNov 30
@greasy @JessTheUnstill yes my father told me at the beginning of my career that administrative assistants were the first people to befriend as they had all the secret keys to the kingdom and could actually help you get shit done.
Show threadGunChleocDec 1
@mossyfoot @greasy @JessTheUnstill Also, make friends with the janitor and treat them with respect. They know how the building works and what's on.
Show threadRaven667Nov 30

@greasy @JessTheUnstill this so much, as a worker-bee i only have limited understanding of organizational context but someone who is coordinating across teams can see patterns and relationships that the averager worker doesnt.

Ive heard it said that main work of any organization, beyond the individual contributor single-proprietor cottage industry, is communication, and effective communication is make or break for most large organizations of any kind

People who facilitate communication like managers, admins, project managers, make or break organizations by how well they provide context and glue for the workers

Show threadJEDI10Nov 30
@JessTheUnstill YES! I have been saying this for years. The whole idea with technology is that you can do everything you need in an office, but you do nothing well. Admistrarive assistants and office managers are pros!
Show threadGravity Sucks...then it FallsNov 30
@JessTheUnstill Given the painful disarray of corporations, especially in USA, it is ESSENTIAL work. ugh ...
Show threadLa GuiriNov 30
@JessTheUnstill family doctors in the public system in my country (Spain) used to have an assistant so they didn't have to deal with paperwork. They were removed in the early nineties. People think it's classist to ask for an assistant... but we're paying for doctor's education and doctor's salaries so that they spend a third of their time filling in forms.
Show threadI am Jack's Found 404Nov 30

@JessTheUnstill

And travel agents! It makes absolutely zero sense to have a rather large department each book their own travel and hotels and then go back & forth about penny pinching 

Show threadRaven667Nov 30

@JessTheUnstill holy shit, ive been on this years, wholeheartedly agree. Good admins are a quiet glue which keeps an org running smoothly and i feel that when office work computerized there were legions of secretaries, typists, assistants who were laid off that were doing all sorts of communication work on the side that made work smoother. Especially when doing creative work, i feel that all the little administrative time burdens add up and break up the train of thought costing a bunch of productivity, making work more frustrating when you feel loke you didnt accomplish anything at end of day.

I think the rise of Project Managers as its own discipline is what business has created to fill the gap, but they dont do the day-to-day support that an admin assistant does. If i remember my Fred Brooks the ideal team was around 10 people and included a writer for managing documentation and an admin at least part time, jobs which have been eliminated on most teams requiring devs to step up, but devs are often amateurs at those tasks.

Show thread@shezza_tDec 1

@raven667 My old office job created a Project Support Office to work with the project managers on the admin stuff.

I spent over a decade doing admin on the same two government contracts; everything from accounts and purchasing to security clearances and managing contractual changes.

It was always fun when a new Project Manager joined from a background where they had no project support.

@JessTheUnstill

Show threadDave SaundersNov 30
@JessTheUnstill The huge positive response shows how many of us can spot the obvious benefits. In the 90s I managed the admin of a very successful part of British Rail where we employed a serious quality of highly paid Project Managers. We found it paid to pamper them with huge support. We tended to go for kitchen porters (then generally male) and secretarial (then generally female). They were tasked with providing any help that kept the PMs working. Coffee, babysitting, shopping, whatever.
Show threadtessaraktNov 30
@JessTheUnstill We have. One per department. Hired via leased labour, because no internal headcount gets approved for these tasks
Show threadC.Nov 30

@JessTheUnstill

Admin assistant is also a job that is virtually ideal for remote work. You're booking things online, doing research, phoning people, and most of your interaction with your principal is or can be asynchronous.

Show threadPhil Thane ✅Nov 30
@JessTheUnstill
About 1990 my wife was sole admin in a small company that was growing quickly. One of her tasks was to research suitable computer systems, persuade the boss to buy it, supervise installation and train everyone who would be using it. Once it was up and running they made her redundant because 'the computer does all the admin'. Company went bust within a year. Mostly because without decent admin the boss was running it like a hobby, no accounts, and he was prosecuted for tax fraud.
Show threadJamesNov 30

@JessTheUnstill

In 2005 big company T***dyne fired all of the admins in the stupidest way possible. They didn't look at what they did and plan replacements.

Weeks later I'm hearing BEEP! BEEP! The admin near me had a fax machine, the number tied to Gov't contracts, and the machine was out of paper. I filled it and had hundreds of pages of contract info that had dead-lettered rather than go to project management.

Show threadclewNov 30

In the healthiest Software Bigcorp department I ever hope to see, some of the admin assistants got promoted directly into program management. People noticed they were doing the work and gave them the title. And the money!!

@JessTheUnstill

Show threadCommon SparrowNov 30
@JessTheUnstill
Lily Tomlin as Violet in "9 to 5" was the beating heart of that entire office. She represented what so many administrative assistants were all about, and also how little their expertise was valued.
Show threadD2Dec 1
@JessTheUnstill also graphics/design folks. Am forever annoyed that bean counters force me to spend 5 hrs doing a shitty half-assed job a talented underemployed designer could outdo in one. (But hey, fewer FTE’s!)
Show threadNikkileah 🎮🚄🏳️‍⚧️🇬🇧Dec 1

@JessTheUnstill having done 20 years in the call centre mines (why? why??) I can attest to the shitty treatment being extended to UK call centres too - from management and callers.

The jobs need to be done but firstly there needs significant improvement in how people in those roles get treated.