3. Wait, We're Not Finished Yet

So, you're probably thinking this little voyage on the seas of crappy design is about over. I wish. The IT amateurs at my friend's agency decided that it might make sense to add a second page to the form for those who need more space to write comments. Now, this page wasn't to have the lines and stuff the old form had. It would just be a blank MS Word page. I don't understand how that made the page different from the one they used before, but I'm beyond understanding these folks.

So, now what's the big issue? I'm sure you've guessed it. How do they print the second page? Should they simply go back to the old method of manually printing double-sided or should they print each page separately and staple them together or should they buy double-sided printers? And, what will their funding agency say when they audit the forms and find a second side no matter how it's linked to the first side?

As double-sided printing rears its ugly head again, will the agency's big bosses decide spend a few thousand dollars to buy enough duplex printers like HP's 1320 for their beleaguered social workers?

I'm sure there are people at the agency that can't sleep at night as they ponder the mess they've gotten themselves into. In the end, they'll be lucky if sleep is all they lose. As funny as all of this is, it is a story as old as time. People unfit to do a task take it on out of egotism or a desire to control or because they lack the resources to get the job done properly and everyone suffers. Come to think of it, this agency isn't the only place where that's happening. Is it?

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