Article September 14, 2009 Issue

BUSINESS PUZZLE? YOU CAN SOLVE IT!

BY CHARLENE ANNE MILLER

Does "Pressure cooker" describe your workplace right now? Are deadlines with reduced staff, layoffs of crucial personnel, budget cutbacks, and the need to better manage operating costs hitting you hard? Or have you been thrust into a situation where you're responsible for something with which you are entirely unfamiliar? With gloomy news stories of rising unemployment, many workers may even feel that they have to compete with their colleagues for job security.

An experience several years ago showed me that we are never without help.

One day my manager called me into his office. A software bug in our homegrown manufacturing accounting system had eluded one of my senior-level peers for nearly a year. Although totals were correct on monthly reports, quarterly reports were incorrect. Year-end reports were also wrong.