How many have been resolved?
Hans: “20 annoyances have been (in)directly resolved. Around 80 will take more time, which makes sense. Some bottlenecks have built up over long periods and can't be easily fixed through regular processes. Often, it involves service chains or system adjustments. Examples are optimizing the VU Amsterdam’s purchasing process, including improvements to the VU web store. Other examples include cleaning up content on VU.nl or streamlining and simplifying the onboarding process for new employees. The capacity needed for these types of tasks are limited: the demand for support is higher than what’s currently available.”
What was the funniest annoyance reported?
Hans: “'Funny' might not be the right word, but things like a missing mouse at a desktop are one of them. It can happen, of course, but it’s unrealistic to expect someone to check at the end of each workday or week whether all the mouses are still there. IT can monitor a lot, but not something like that — the advice here is to take action yourself. Without reporting a bottleneck, we can’t work on a solution.
Personally, I enjoyed tackling issues with payments outside the EU. Talking to the relevant colleagues at the Servicedesk revealed that a system adjustment could be made within a week to display the correct instruction. That was step one of the solution. They’re now working on automating the improvement. By having these conversations, it became clear this issue occurred way too often, and a quick fix could prevent the frequent error message from showing up.”
What was the toughest annoyance to solve?
Hans: “I find the content issues on VU.nl the most complex. There are thousands of web pages with text, images, and clickable documents. So much content is uploaded by many (in my opinion, too many) different colleagues, making management difficult and hard to align. It really calls for a new setup regarding content management and oversight. We’re good at adding information, but regularly cleaning and updating not so. I recognize this in myself too — I never really take the time to check things periodically. As a result, new information is usually accurate, but over time, it becomes outdated, making it harder to find the correct details.”
How can we prevent another long list of annoyances by the end of 2025?
Hans: “Follow-up actions are already in motion, and a 'continuous improvement' coordinator is working on structuring the approach to ongoing improvements. Simply put, the VU Amsterdam Servicedesks will collaborate more closely to prevent things from slipping through the cracks, ensure service chains are collectively managed, and make sure every report leads to a response.
That said, we can’t always resolve every annoyance, but in such cases, we’ll explain why it’s a conscious choice not to pursue a fix. For example, 55 annoyances stemmed from confusion or feeling unheard. Take the structure and layout of Microsoft Teams — you can tweak some settings, but options are limited. Often, colleagues don’t take the time to read the guides and instructions (I’m guilty of this too) and end up complaining when something doesn’t work. But reading the material could prevent many questions. And no, calling Microsoft to ask them to change Teams specifically for VU Amsterdam isn’t realistic.”
If a colleague shares an annoyance with you at the coffee machine, what’s your advice?
Hans: “Always report issues. A report is essential to figure out whether a solution is possible, and these reports help us identify larger bottlenecks. Also, remember that sometimes we can solve things ourselves. For instance, if office furniture isn’t in its original place, it’s often nearby — just pick it up and put it back. Or if you find dirty cutlery, just clean it, and kindly remind colleagues to tidy up after themselves.
Finally, it’s impossible to please every VU Amsterdam employee, especially when it comes to the systems we use. One person might find something frustrating, while another is perfectly satisfied. Balancing personal preferences with university-wide improvements is a challenge — like setting the thermostat: too hot or too cold? What’s right? It’s helpful to keep this in mind when you run into something annoying during your day-to-day work.”
