Comments on: Investing in your staff

By: Phillip Senn

Phillip Senn — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 06:01:07 +0000

I think there is a sad truth here that we are sometimes afraid to tell our managers.
Manager: “How long will it take you to learn CSS? Seven hours?”
You: “Nay, Seventy times Seven hours”.

By: Paul Boag

Paul Boag — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 16:56:19 +0000

Sad but sometimes true Jonathan. To be honest this isnt just about web standards its about the web full stop. I think managers often fail to grasp that this is a fast moving industry and that staff need time to keep abreast of things.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:10:56 +0000

Paul, I hope your web designers / developers are readers of your ramblings. Otherwise they will have missed out on a great chance for time some of their 'own projects' smile Keep up the good work sir.

By: Jonathan M

Jonathan M — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:00:12 +0000

I agree with you entirely. Unfortunately the managers I work for don’t understand web standards, they don’t want to know about them, they don’t care about technology, and they don’t read this website.
However they have realised that our site has far better SE visibility, and that we’ve been able to roll out our new design on different servers and applications, which just wasn’t possible in the past. (I always tell them why we can now do this, so it might sink in one day)
And there’s always the accessibility aspect. Improved accessibility often doesn’t mean a huge amount to a manager, but there’s nothing like the threat of legal action against a company, for them to let you drop everything and take the time to learn how to use CSS properly. (An anonymous email to a CEO accusing them of having an inaccessible website and pointing out their legal obligations, could work. Although I’d never dream of suggesting this tactic.)
Without plugging Paul’s company (OK, I will), this is where an outside agency can help pull a company/institution into the modern age. With CSS experts creating the new site, internal staff could be allowed some time to learn the new skills which they will need to work with standards. Maybe agencies could suggest this to their new clients?