One aspect of this that i think is potentialy significant is processes which ‘stick’ in a non-working state.
I have on several occasions gone on the quest to find paper or ink, only for the printer to spit out 100 pages that other people had queued up when that resource was depleted. Those other people all, presumably, knew their document had not printed but decided not to get ink or paper. (Maybe their print wasnt that important to them. Maybe the instruction ‘check paper in drawer B2’ on an unfamilar machine was intimidating).
As i brought the paper/ink to the printer and reflected on the time it had taken, i consoled myself that it was now fixed, not just for me but for those who followed. I had unstuck the process for everyone. However, the queued up documents of people who had already given up, peehaps days ago, plus my print put us back into low-ink territory.
Compare this to stairs. Imagine i put an annoying to move barrier in front of the stairs somewhere. The first person would arrive, and remove it, and then it would inconvenience zero additional people.
I am not sure if printers jam, break oe run out of ink more often than most machines. I am sure that when they do they stay down longer.
A related contributing factor. Every organisation i have been in discourages printing when it ‘isnt nesseaary’. This means that some of the people leaving the printer in the stuck position are doing so because they worry that if they start asking where the ink is kept someone might badger them about whether the print they are doing is nessesary. If people have a low level sense of guilt (perhaps enviromentalism related) when they are dojng somethjng they are less likely to ask for help in ways that draw attention.
One aspect of this that i think is potentialy significant is processes which ‘stick’ in a non-working state.
I have on several occasions gone on the quest to find paper or ink, only for the printer to spit out 100 pages that other people had queued up when that resource was depleted. Those other people all, presumably, knew their document had not printed but decided not to get ink or paper. (Maybe their print wasnt that important to them. Maybe the instruction ‘check paper in drawer B2’ on an unfamilar machine was intimidating).
As i brought the paper/ink to the printer and reflected on the time it had taken, i consoled myself that it was now fixed, not just for me but for those who followed. I had unstuck the process for everyone. However, the queued up documents of people who had already given up, peehaps days ago, plus my print put us back into low-ink territory.
Compare this to stairs. Imagine i put an annoying to move barrier in front of the stairs somewhere. The first person would arrive, and remove it, and then it would inconvenience zero additional people.
I am not sure if printers jam, break oe run out of ink more often than most machines. I am sure that when they do they stay down longer.
A related contributing factor. Every organisation i have been in discourages printing when it ‘isnt nesseaary’. This means that some of the people leaving the printer in the stuck position are doing so because they worry that if they start asking where the ink is kept someone might badger them about whether the print they are doing is nessesary. If people have a low level sense of guilt (perhaps enviromentalism related) when they are dojng somethjng they are less likely to ask for help in ways that draw attention.