In this kind of thing you just go full on formal by requiring the request via e-mail, were you notify them that you’re not qualified to do it and require confirmation (and, if applicable, confirmation that your own manager authorizes it).
(Also if you are busy with some other project, be very very explicit it will have to be put on hold and request confirmation that the manager in charge of that project has authorized it).
By this point, in all likelihood the person doing the request will give up. If not and you do get a go ahead, you’re now fully covered to take tons of time, do a bad job of it and it’s will officially be the fault of the person who asked you to do it.
Great advice, thanks! With my honesty and gullibility I probably will end up in that situation anyway though. :)
I have ended up in this situation! The first commenter is extremely right. Realistically, your manager doesn’t want you wasting time on a “learning opportunity”. They need you doing what you’re good at
Just to add to this, the whole thing is driven by:
- Managerial type has problem.
- Managerial type sees possible solution (a somewhat naive and eager to help techie).
- Managerial type tries that solution.
That’s it: it’s all about them and their problem and zero about the person they’re asking it from, including about any “learning” (if it was about “learning” it would be a “problem in your area of expertise but more complex that what you’ve done so far” and even those are commonly a “solve my problem” that just happen to fall in your area if beyond what you’ve so far done).
So for somebody receiving such “solve me this problem (outside your expertise)” request, the right approach is to make it so that “any problems from me doing this, are not my problems” and make sure it’s all on record because sometimes it is actually needed (normally it’s not, but plenty of managerial types will blame you if this solution of theirs through using a person with no domain expertise blows up, so one does it “on the record” just in case).
Hence, full-on on the record including a clear notice from your side about your lack of training for the job and with clear explanation of consequences for other projects (“If I’m doing this, I’m not doing that”, as said managers might be trying to get you to use your personal time in solving their problem, i.e. you’re still expected to do all the rest in addition to solving their problem) and the authorization of the managers of said projects.
It’s sad that you need to cover your ass just in case, but if it’s all on the up and up said manager has no reason to see your approach in a negative way (it actually looks professional and, had they been managing one of the projects you will put on hold for this request, they would want you to make sure their approval is obtained just like you did), whilst if it is not on the up and up, he or she will give up and seek an easier victim, not just this time but likely from then onwards.
If they do end up getting everything prim and proper and authorized for you to do this totally new kind of thing, you just got yourself a consequences-free and reasonably open-ended chance to play around with new stuff, on the company dole, with no expectations you’ll be good at it, so have fun.
Not trying to troll you but technically, that would also preclude being able to expand your skillset since you can only do what you‘re already good at.
Then again, I‘m probably splitting hairs. Thanks for elaborating.
Yes, this is the right way to do it.
Even without directly requesting permission I usually try send a follow up email.
Something like:
To confirm what we discussed previously, according to you request I’ll stop working on ??? (Actual project I’m actually paid for) to do ??? instead.
Of course this will delay ??? (The task I’m supposed to work on right now)
By this point, in all likelihood the person doing the request will give up.
I have found in a majority of cases, they don’t even remember requesting it. I give those requests the scream test: don’t do it and see if they even notice. Sometimes they do, depending on the management, but most jobs like the OP cartoon just say stuff to look important in the moment and have zero follow up plans to make sure it was done.
Thats easy.
- open Excel
- Set the desired image as background
- colour the required cells on top of the image in the company colours (you may have to resize cells)
- open the snipping tool
- take a screenshot of the new image with company colours
Congratulations, you just used THE best program on your pc to finish another task.
Reasons you tell the it department you need the best cpu available and more ram than their servers: complex simulation software and autocad
Actual reason you need it: thousands of calculation cells in a single spreadsheet that references other spreadsheets
As someone who will spend 10 hours figuring out how to automate a daily task that takes 8 minutes, I feel attacked!
How to handle
-
Say outside of my familiarity as it’s not my skill set.
-
Suggest bringing it to a designer
-
If they push for it, elevate it to a higher up. Your boss is paying you to code, not to Photoshop. And if they’re so stupid to not defend you, you have bigger problems.
4: Do a deliberately bad job and take your time doing it
5: Get recognized as a master of post-minimalist design, placed in charge of department
I deal with stuff like this on a daily basis as I’m in a hybrid function in support / sys admin. We get this not from managers, but from our users. “Hei this is how we would like to work, can you please change the system?”
While I absolutely understand the reason for this, it’s hard to do for 600 users. And our new boss also supports this approach because we need to be a good service provider for our internal customers. But always having to research if the requests even are implementable and what the implications of the implementation are is so fucking time consuming. I still have other shit to do.
What I want to say is, I feel like I shouldn’t always have to be the one to directly receive (change) requests but they should already have been checked and approved.
I shouldn’t have to do 1. & 2. or even 3. from your list. I should receive a clear work order and then look into the implementation.
But I guess that’s wishful thinking.
Ignorant supervisors (and judging by the comments here, many engineers) who think that engineers can do a graphic designer’s job with no graphic design experience are the reason why so many corporate logos, websites, email templates, official apps, apps in general, and branding in general just look ugly. But they don’t care because somehow a prerequisite for becoming an engineer or someone who supervises engineers is a complete lack of any kind of aesthetic sensibility.
I didn’t know these guys worked at my last company.