Working the Ladder ...
Let's take a moment to discuss ladders in the workplace. They are ubiquitous, they pose danger, and they are in every workplace. And obviously I am not talking about the "reach-tall-things" sort of ladder.
No, I am referring to the career and general hierarchical ladders that exist in every workplace. These ladders are as old as time and serve to determine remind us all that there is a pecking order in the employment relationship. For that reason alone, they sort of suck. But that isn't the focus of my gripe.
Upstream and Downstream
So, what is my problem? Well it is simple. Ladders are made to transfer things from one elevation to another. That much is obvious. But what happens when things that should be going up the ladder come down instead? And vice versa?
Then the ladder becomes a mechanism of confusion and waste. And that is exactly what is happening in millions of offices around the world every single day.
Common Sense
Let's assume you work in a design office. Perhaps a civil engineering office. You have principals, project managers, EITs, and "lower level" production staff. Specifically, drafters. And all of these people have different billable rates.
So, once upon a time, it was a commonly held strategy to "push work down the ladder." This meant that, for example, there was an "entry level" design work that could be performed by an EIT, that giving this work to an experienced drafter was more cost effective.
Essentially, work that could be done at a lower billable rate should be done at that level in order to maximize profit. Makes sense. But these days, that practice isn't as common as it once had been.
Not So Common Sense
Today there is a generation of management that believes it is more cost effective to push work "up the ladder." Revisiting our previous scenario, work that would normally be done by a drafter is now being pushed up to an EIT or higher-level design staff. Of course, that translates into higher billable rates.
But ... why? Can an EIT perform drafting tasks at a such an improved ratio that makes her higher billing rate profitable? No. In fact, it has been my experience that these design staffers perform CAD drafter much less efficiently simply because they do not have the mastery of the tools that dedicated staff has. Considering the lower rate of production efficiency and increased billing rate this arrangement is, overall, less profitable.
Wrong for So Many Reasons
Why on earth would any for-profit organization decide to instill work practices, such as pushing work "up the ladder," that would lower profits? The answer is two part.
First, there is a current of thought and practice among tool creators, business consultants, and generational tendencies to consolidate efforts and information. At best I can presuppose that by limiting the nodes in the production environment collaboration could theoretically become far more simplistic.
In reality, this push up the ladder has a devastating effect on the careers of everyone involved.
Denying "lower level" staff exposure to greater experiences stops them from gaining the skills to accelerate their careers to greater positions
Imposing work that is both outside the experience and work scope of design staff can be frustrating. But more importantly, it takes these people away from the design and project management tasks they are hired to handle
This entire ridiculous notion literally takes profit right off the table
Safe Use of the Ladder
Maybe I am just being old-fashioned. But as a proponent of ridding the world of "business as usual," even I cannot cosign on any use of production-related hierarchical traffic that robs some staff members of opportunity and saddles others with tasks they do not have the expertise to handle.
Let's all take a moment and stop buying into the hype that sends our egos on "I can do everything better than everyone" trips. Let people do the jobs they are trained for, have opportunities to gain experience for better positions, and be as productive, and thus profitable, as possible.
If you do, I think you'll see greater efficiencies, happier staff, and a greater percentage of people graduating up the ladder.
