Just One More Column

One page. Three metrics. A few perfectly reasonable additions.

Rick Hecker

— 2 min read
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A small black binder clip strains to hold a vast, curling stack of ruled reporting paper.
Original illustration generated for this comic.

Panels 1–2. A small PPC report becomes a wide landscape sheet after requests for last year's figures and a brand split. Complete dialogue and descriptions follow in the comic transcript.

Panels 3–4. Original and revised targets extend the report across the table; a conversion-definition note curls onto the floor.

Panels 5–6. The note acquires another note. The operator folds unwanted columns upward, creating a paper wall between colleagues.

Panels 7–8. The report forms private booths. A small request to move one column has the operator preparing to pull the whole sheet while everyone lifts their coffee.

Comic transcript

1. A paid-search operator in a teal shirt holds up a small report to two colleagues around a meeting table. Its headings are Spend, Leads and Cost per lead. There is room for everyone's laptop, notebook and coffee.

Operator: “One page. Spend, leads, cost per lead.”

Marketing colleague, in a terracotta cardigan: “Lovely. Could we see last year? We're seasonal.”

2. The report has widened across the table. The operator turns it landscape.

Marketing: “And brand separately? That's where most of our cheap leads come from.”

Operator: “I'll turn it landscape.”

3. The finance colleague in a mustard sweater gestures to the report. The operator extends it with an accordion of paper that runs off the table. Marketing lifts the laptop out of the way.

Finance: “Could we keep the original target beside the revised target? I need to explain the change.”

4. A note beneath the report has grown down the table edge and curled onto the floor.

Operator: “I added a note about which conversions count as leads.”

Marketing: “Helpful. Which of these are qualified?”

5. The operator works beside the enormous footnote, adding another strip to it.

Operator: “Qualified means Sales accepted it.”

Marketing: “Including the ones they sent back?”

Operator: “I'll add a note.”

6. Marketing points to a small part of the report. The operator folds the unwanted width upward, making a paper wall between the colleagues.

Marketing: “I only need these three columns.”

Operator: “I'll fold the rest back.”

7. The report's standing folds now form separate booths. Each colleague has a small visible section; they can no longer see one another across the table.

Marketing: “Mine's much clearer now.”

8. The operator grips the vast report, ready to pull it through all the folds. Both colleagues hold their mugs above the paper.

Finance: “Tiny change. Could we put qualified leads first?”

Operator: “Everyone lift your coffee.”