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When you want to talk to someone (a
co-worker, a housemate, whoever), but
they're busy (on the phone, off in a
meeting, out to lunch, deeply
engrossed in something), leave an
"attention flag" on their desk or in
their pocket or some other place you
think they will likely encounter it.
The
attention flag is a small but
prominent flag with a weighted base
and your name on it. When they
finish their task or return from
their absence, the flag will remind
them that you wanted to talk to them.
They take the flag, come find you,
and give it back to you: "You wanted
to talk to me?"
If you're out or busy when they
respond, they put your flag back on
your desk and leave one of their
own next
to it.
Sure, you could also leave them
e-mail or a voice mail or a message
on the whiteboard or a Post-It note
or whatever, but I
think using physical flags is more
charming, and more likely to evoke a
response when mailboxes and
whiteboards are all too
frequently overflowing with
unprioritized
junk. The number of flags will be
bounded, since you'll only ever get
one at a time from any given person.
Variations: Personal flags could be
attractively designed and
customized as a sort of
calling card; the base could include a
little clip or writing area for the
flagger
to leave a more specific message;
you could have different types of
flags
for different occasions ("just
dropping by to say hi" vs. "oh my god
everything's broken where are you
come quick!!!").
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Annotation:
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"Charming" is a good way to describe it. Also, I think
you're right about being more likely to get a response.
The
main problem I see is that unless you made it a habit to
carry a flag with you when you went to see someone,
you'd have to go back to your desk (and then back to the
person's desk) to get it once you found out the person
was occupied. |
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I agree, that is an issue. |
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Maybe people could carry a flag
all the time when they're at work,
possibly in some sort of belt
holster. On the positive side,
people would learn by association
to match flags and faces. On the
negative side, that would be a
real pain; we've already got
plenty of things to tote around
(keys, wallet, cell phone, PDA,
pens, ...). |
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Indeed. It's only a matter of time before we have real life
utility belts, like Batman and Robin. |
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I think a flag holster is a fun idea though. Maybe instead
of a weighted base, the flags should have a plunger base;
they could then be shot out of a plunger dart gun so you
could leave your message from a distance. |
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Where I work, I am surrounded by paper and broken pencils and blu-tac (or plasticine). I am going to bake this one, I think it's cute. You could also use those little photo clipper display things, (the ones with the solid base and pioingy bendy stick with a baby crocodile clip on the end) and leave them lying around with your business card clipped in. I don't have a business card though, so I'll stick to the plasticine. |
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Can my flag be the Jolly Roger? |
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[waugs]: My ex-manager (I don't mean that he's dead now, although...) used to e-mail instructions to me when I was sitting opposite him. Days would go by without him speaking to me. |
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[egnor] "Are you happy to see
me or are you happy to see me?" |
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(a la "Is that a flag in your
pocket...") |
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...This doesn't seem like an egnor idea at all. I sense an imposter... |
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[lewisgirl] gets my Don Martin award for "pioingy" |
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As for the idea, it's only a matter of time, if such a system is adopted, before your desk is so cluttered with attention flags that you just toss them out. And your contention that |
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//you'll only ever get one at a time from any given person// |
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is balderdash. As soon as I get impatient with you for not bringing my flag back, I'm tossing you another one. But you never get back to me, because you know I'm going to chew you out 1) for not getting back to me for my first flag, and 2) for the thing I was going to chew you out for in the first place. So I toss another. Ad infinitum. Forget it. Fishbone for you, you shlep. And give me all my flags back. |
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//This doesn't seem like an egnor idea at all. I sense an
imposter// |
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Hmm, yes, there must be something more attention-grabbing than flags. I know! How about specially trained small dogs. You could leave them at the desk of the person you're trying to get hold of, and they could be trained to bark until the recipient follows them. |
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In Australia you could use kangaroos: "What's that Skip? Bruce has locked up the server and needs a reboot? Goodonyer." |
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// This doesn't seem like an egnor
idea at all. // |
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// I've long used Post-Its for this // |
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Yeah, but my desk is covered in
Post-Its. How will yours stand out? |
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// As soon as I get impatient with
you for not bringing my flag back,
I'm tossing you another one. // |
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I'm not sure why you think that
would help. Why not just move the
flag that's already there to a
more prominent place, like on top
of their keyboard or balanced so
it falls from the door when they
walk in? |
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// How about specially trained
small dogs? // |
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How about flags that beep? Beep
beep beep. They could even have a
recorded voice message that would
play over and over. Only the
owner has the code that turns them
off. OK, maybe not... |
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Better yet: exploding flags. |
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