Work smarter, not harder

Thought of an interesting thread here and I hope we can all benefit from sharing with one another.

Most of us have stretched resources. We're approaching basketball with only one person to take calls, meaning a some news copy editor is going to have to help take lines from area high school basketball. We have 30 teams, not to mention several area small colleges, two writers and in basketball, two stringers. Department head serves as a writer. We have three must-cover high school teams, arguably four. None of the stringers can work on the desk. So we're scrapping linescores and will take leading scorers for both teams and one other highlight, cutting call-in time to about 1 minute per coach. We'll take one designated game from the desk and blow it up about six inches. I'm not sure this will work; I'm tempted to say we should bring one regular staffer (the SE) in on the desk, but if we do that, they'll probably take the news person away and we'll be one person short than we were. But what can you do?

Anyway, it's a start. Let's share what your department has done to work smarter, not harder (or longer). Since apples aren't oranges, share your circulation size and coverage responsibilities when you post. And if you have suggestions for a previous post, please do so.

I hope this generates some good ideas for everyone....I figure most of you are missing part of your asses from working as hard as you are.

 

"Work smarter" = corporate speak nonsense.

It's also condescending to tell a group of hard-working people that they're not working "smart" enough.

 

Who pissed in your corn flakes? I think the idea of the thread is to give everyone some hints to things we can all do to make sure we get the most out of our time. Perhaps people will contribute ideas others haven't thought of. Clearly, you know everything there is to know about how to maximize your efficiency, so this thread is probably worthless to you, but if you'd like to give others ideas instead of getting uppity, I'm sure everyone would appreciate it.

 

Hey, if you feel comfortable telling the people you supervise, in the midst of waning resources and everyone already picking up the slack along the way, that they need to work "smarter," by all means, knock yourself out.

 

Actually, it's to help overworked staffs maintain excellence without watching one of their own collapse dead on the floor due to overwhelming demands and decreasing resources.

Piss in the toilet, not on your flakes.

You are definitely overstressed.

 

That's what your publisher is telling you, isn't it?

 

When any staff loses resources, the people left have to work harder; there's no way around it. So to tell such a group that they don't have to work harder, but instead they can just work "smarter," is a lie, no matter how good the mantra may look on a mission statement.

 

Every big-time exec I had to deal with who ever reeled out the "work smarter" line was (a) wholly out of his depth, and (b) didn't last five years in his position. You results may vary, but I've seen enough.

 

"Work smarter" is totally disrespectful toward the staffers who remain. It's as if they were dumbasses beforehand.

Work more efficiently, if that's what you want, fine. Just don't bitch when the desk lets more stuff through because a copy editor is reading six extra stories each night.

 

Exactly.

 

Could we stop moaning about semantics and possibly, you know, answer the question the original poster posed? I'm sure he/she meant no offense.

 

Fuck no. That shit just proves how fucked the industry is.

These people prove it by their bitter shit.

So you're going to work harder, add to your negative attitude, and let the last man standing keep his job. No fucking creativity here like in other professions. Salespeople used to have to make face-to-face contact with clients. They work smarter through use of technology.

But journalists? As for this example, shit no.

You people are some of the most truly ignorant pieces of dung on the planet. Good luck in your profession and make that $10 an hour stretch far.