Adminstration/paperwork at your job

Xoliul

Hey guys, sort of a random thread, but I started wondering about this: how much adminstration/paperwork do you generally have to do at your industry job? I'd be curious to see how much this differs between regular and more senior positions.

I'm asking because at my current job (teaching) this is quite a lot and it's pretty bothersome. It really never ends, especially now at the end of the year there's a ton of it. I'm soon gonna be working elsewhere and am wondering what to expect (I really hope less of it;))

I'm also wondering if there isn't some sort of easy scheduling/task log application that would help keep track, preferably with an Android app. I'm thinking something where you can easily add a task/deadline or have some sort of to-do list, that also syncs online. I could use Google Calendar, but adding stuff on my phone is a bit bothersome and it doesn't entirely fit the bill.

[HP]

Well, that's what managers are for, if you work at a studio you might be given tasks or even be responsible for your own tasks but there's never a lot of paperwork or spreadsheets involved, not here anyway.

Saman

Yes, same here. The only times I had to deal with that kind of stuff was at the beginning and the end of an employment/freelance job. Sometimes there were some changes to the company and I had to deal with some extra paperwork but it wasn't really a big deal. Freelancing requires more paperwork with taxes and stuff but I guess you already knew that. I've worked in both England and Sweden btw.

Kwramm

hmm... employee evaluations, doing some paperwork when I interview people, creating tasks for people in the task tracking system. In general it's not too much and it's not too hard to keep track of it.
Then there's the other "non paperwork" admin work which can be annoying at times ... booking meetings, making sure everyone shows up at time, handing out tasks, verifying progress, troubleshooting with the juniors, liaising between teams, yadda yadda.

If you're not in a lead position, then your lead and a producer/project manager/whatever-they're-called-at-your-place should keep your back covered so you don't have to do all this, and your paperwork should be very little.

Teaching is a special job though. Every teacher I know - no matter what they teach - are always covered in paperwork.

Autocon

The closets things to paper work here would be an excel sheet that lists everyone currently assigned to which level and when big deadlines like Alpha, Beta and Gold Master are. Not too detailed either. And there is also a "Leads Meeting" word doc with a few lines discussing things the leads talked about like every 2 weeks. Generally things like, hey were doing an E3 trailer, were going to be doing this promo thing for multiplayer with subway.


Never do I have to deal with actual paper work.

Mark Dygert

I'm the lead of our animation department (3 whole people heh) and I do a fair bit of paper work, creating schedules, making sure spreadsheets are kept up to date and everyone is on track to finish, writing a truck load of emails to everyone involved in animation, environment team, production team, marketing team, IT...

I've been higher up in the food chain at other companies and the paperwork was unbearable, along with the office politics, hate that stuff. I don't think I would want to step any higher than where I'm at because I would run into the same thing. Right now its a good mix, all of it is necessary and I can quickly deal with most of it and get back to the fun stuff.

My mom is a teacher... the paperwork they make her fill out is crazy stupid and no where near on any level I've ever had to endure in any job so you're probably in for some great times.

Xoliul

Ok thanks for the answers guys, good to read. They gave me a "it won't be any different at your next job" at work after I forgot some important thing again, got me wondering.

I don't really mind writing things, like documenting technical stuff, or documenting ideas. but at my job it always feels annoying, just now I had to write a 2 page report and fill out a 3 page survey/feedback document. All just to get travel expenses back...