Least Common Denominator

Do you remember way back in school when you learned about fractions and breaking those things down to the least common denominator? Well, I have been reminded of that phrase a lot lately, but in a different context.

Here at work, we have a lot of people who probably shouldn't be in the positions they are in or at least they shouldn't be responsible for the things that they are responsible for. I have been working for the past several weeks writing and re-writing financial reports. Most people with any sort of financial background (hell, with any sort of exposure to financial reports in their past lives) would be able to understand what is printed on the pages of the financial reports. But, not here. No, we have to take the financial reports and regroup and restate them 3 or 4 different ways. This, my friends, is why the phrase least common denominator has been bouncing around in my brain. We have taken the information, broken it down to it's simplest form, and then had to write a narrative explaining the information.

Not only are we presenting the information in the simplest way possible, we are doing in 3 or 4 different ways because so-and-so likes to read it and so-and-so likes to see it grouped this way and so-and-so likes the traditional presentation. God forbid these people actually take the information and manipulate the structure themselves. UGH!! I don't know how much longer I can take this!!