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Bring your problem to work day

 Set your colleagues to work on your problem.
  (+23, -2)(+23, -2)(+23, -2)
(+23, -2) 		  [vote for,
against]

A nominated day every year when normal work is set aside and everyone in the workplace brings in a problem to be solved by the collective resources of the company. Problems must be soluble using only effort, thought and available company resources (excluding money). Different problems would therefore work better at different companies. "I'm having trouble building a treehouse for my son" would go down better at a firm of architects than at McDonald's (where a more suitable problem to bring in might be "what type of ponytail fastener should I wear on Saturday night?").
—stupop, Oct 17 2001

Displacement Activity Swap Shop http://www.halfbake...ivity_20Swap_20Shop
Global initiative to swap useful skills [-alx, Oct 17 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Scientific American http://www.sciam.com/askexpert/
Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computers, Environment, Geology, Mathematics, Medicine, Physics [phoenix, Oct 17 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Ask an Expert http://www.askanexpert.com/
Geared towards children [phoenix, Oct 17 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

All Experts http://www.allexperts.com/
Just about every subject. No sofa moving, however. [phoenix, Oct 17 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

[link]






       We had a virtual version of this one time, brainstorming [lewisgirl]'s VBA coding. Definite pastry!
—angel, Oct 17 2001
   

       seconded.
[blissmiss], every day is DMSATW Day, but at least you might go home on BYPTW Day with a feeling of having done more productive work than on any other day.
—lewisgirl, Oct 17 2001
   

       This kind of has the same problem as blissmiss's Cubicle Play Day, in that there's a wide range of stuff in your private life you don't want your colleagues and especially your boss to know about (or maybe I'm just anti-social).   

       I'm not sure I have any problems that I'd want my *workmates* to solve or would expect them to be particularly able to solve (although I often discuss problems with my friends and even the Halfbakery); I wonder if anyone else does.   

       (Maybe if you work for a web design firm, you can get help with your private web site, but you'd probably do that anyway. But if you work at a urology clinic, would you be so eager?)   

       Afterthought: I wouldn't mind solving other people's problems, even if they didn't solve mine, so maybe I'd be really popular.
—pottedstu, Oct 17 2001
   

       [waugsqueke]: then next "Bring your problem to work day", just get all your other colleagues to sort him out.
—pottedstu, Oct 17 2001
   

       Nah, waugs, I think your colleague is working on the "Bring Your Issues To Work Day" principle. Totally different.
—lewisgirl, Oct 17 2001
   

       And if your problem can be solved in one day, by a stranger, with no money and legally then it probably wasn't that big a problem to begin with.
—phoenix, Oct 17 2001
   

       It's probably down to that sign on the door, Peter...
"Weird Shit? Talk to Sealy!"

I like the idea, stopup, but think it could do with expanding a bit. Why restrict it to colleagues? Let's make it a universal thing so that anyone can drop into any workplace, anywhere and ask anyone to help them with their problems. Call it "National Help Day".
—DrBob, Oct 17 2001
   

       Baked--I've been bringing projects from my other job in for months, and taking two paychecks. As a bonus, nobody at the job I show up for gives me anything to do since I always look so busy...(oh, how I wish...)
—Guncrazy, Oct 17 2001
   

       phoenix: Stated another way, the problem is a no brainer?   

       How about forcing the management to adhere to tenets of their open door policy; call it…Professional Courtesy.
—reensure, Oct 18 2001
   

       Nice one, stupop: clever, concise, practical.
—iuvare, Oct 18 2001
   

       [pottedstu]: 'But if you work at a urology clinic, would you be so eager?'
I didn't envisage this idea requiring that the 'problem' would necessarily relate to your work. If you're an electrician, surely you wouldn't often need to consult your fellow electricians at work about an electrical problem at home. However, many of us have fairly extensive knowledge of subjects totally unrelated to work, and it would be interesting to get another perspective on your problem, particularly when you didn't realise that your colleague was informed in the area.
—angel, Oct 18 2001
   

       Yes. I'm sure urology clinic staff could, say, get a sofa up five flights of stairs.
—stupop, Oct 18 2001
   

       So you bring your sofa to work, they carry it up 5 flights of stairs, and then where are you? (no one say "the roof").   

       Perhaps everyone could draw up a list of their expertise, so you'd know where to go, or they could compile a list of problems and pass it around; this would work in multi-occupancy buildings. I still think if you're planning on getting a problem the whole office can work together on, it's likely to be medical-related in a urology clinic, though; and I thought that communal spirit was part of the idea.
—pottedstu, Oct 18 2001
   

       Added links to various "expert advice" sites. Of course, the HB is designed to solve more esoteric problems...
—phoenix, Oct 18 2001
   

       This will all fall down when I say something like: "My problem is that all my bosses are bastards half the time and half my bosses are bastards all the time. I hate this job and I wish you were all dead but I need the money."
—sirrobin, Oct 18 2001
   

       [sirrobin] If you said that on BYPTWD, then your colleagues would simply set to work finding you a better job.
—stupop, Oct 18 2001
   

       UnaBubba: much as I like taking credit for other people's ideas, not to mention making jokes about sofas, I think your effusive thanks should be directed at stupop. Your croissant, I assume, has already gone the right route. (Between me, PotatoStew and stupop it gets a mite confusing even for me.)
—pottedstu, Oct 18 2001
   

       Can we have this idea carried over into the school environment as well (not that I don't share some of my problems with my fellow school goers).
—kaz, Oct 18 2001
   

       + nice, but can I stay home today?
—xandram, Mar 25 2008
   

       I think this is baked already. As the sole QE at our company, everybody's problems are my problem by default.
—normzone, Mar 25 2008
   

       Not a bad idea. This happens in some places, but it hardly seems baked because it's not well-known.   

       I just got back from a continuing education doodad...we did a problem-solving exercise for one of the participants, and it reduced her to tears to see how she'd been misreading the problem from source to plans. It was good for her and will be good for her organization.   

       I think having an organization do this for someone and for a problem unrelated to the org might be alright (as long as it's completely voluntary).
—shapu, Mar 26 2008
   

       I just simply cannot keep my wife satisfied in bed. I mean, 3, 4 times a night? I'm exhausted. Any ideas?
—Noexit, Mar 26 2008
   

       ...sleep on the couch.
—xandram, Mar 26 2008
   

       [Noexit]: perhaps change religions to one that allows polygamy?   

       I'm quite certain any areas of expertise I could advertise would either gain me no consultees with problems to solve or scare off everyone completely.
—RayfordSteele, Mar 27 2008
   
      
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