Boss tells web designer they can't say "no" to user requests, they find a loophole by rewriting the rulebook: 'Oh, I'm sorry, as per the Web Update Guide we can't do this...'

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Jun 19, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

There's nothing more infuriating than when you've studied something for years and yet somehow find yourself in the position where you're being forced to consider the opinions of people who have no idea what they're talking about… Thus is the life of many a programmer and designer.

This web designer was responsible for managing and maintaining a collection of websites that their organization maintained for clients, but their organization had a particularly strange policy where requests from clients always needed to be considered, with their boss telling them that they couldn't say no to requests, regardless of whether or not the requests actually made any sense, were actually good ideas"features" or would bog down and ruin the performance and interface of the web sites.

Growing tired of this and wasting all their time fielding requests from clueless non-technical staff at client organizations, the web designer strategized to get their own process document approved and signed off, which would allow them to effectively deny any foolish requests—this time with the process on their side.