Both the leader and the clerk have a responsibility to communicate clearly. Often when my stake president asks me for something, he'll ask how hard it is. If I say I can get that in 2 minutes, he'll ask me to move forward, and if I say that will take me 5 hours plus an extra hour every month, he'll usually say that it's not worth it. Leaders don't always know just how long things will take, and so it's up to the clerk to give appropriate feedback so that the leader can evaluate the benefit versus the cost.ulupoi wrote:Sometimes, leaders have clerks spend hours creating new reports in order to save themselves a minute or two, at most, flipping through standard reports.
Addressing that point in the context of this larger discussion: yes, a clerk's time is valuable. If a particular tool can make him and his associates much more efficient, then it's entirely reasonable for a leader to choose to spend a few budget dollars to save time.