Painting the Big Picture: How I Solved a Workplace Problem with Empathy & Tech

The Philadelphia office is in its final days. With the company being acquired and all operations moving to New York, what remains of our small team has been juggling a constant stream of last-minute tasks, cleanup efforts, and logistical puzzles. It's been hectic especially for my close coworker, an executive assistant who’s been shouldering far more than her fair share.

One recent task pushed her right to the edge: the CEO wanted an inventory of the artwork hanging around the office. Not a vague description, he wanted photos and a way to review what should be kept or discarded. I could see the stress hit her like a wave. She vented about the absurdity of trying to take dozens of pictures and email them in some meaningful format. I understood her frustration as she was already overwhelmed, and this just felt like more noise.

So I told her I’d take care of it.

I’m not sure if she thought I was just being polite or didn’t realize I meant it literally. After all, this wasn’t in my job description. I'm an IT engineer, not a facilities coordinator or archivist. But I don’t care much for rigid role boundaries when someone’s clearly drowning. And besides, I like solving problems.

The Challenge: Make It Simple

I’ve interacted with our CEO enough to know that he’s the type who wants things clean, quick, and not overly complicated. He’s busy, and the last thing he wants is to be fumbling through a cluttered email thread full of random photo attachments.

So I thought: how can I make this easy for everyone?

The Plan: Blend Tools with Intention

I decided to create a SharePoint List on our Philadelphia SharePoint site. Why a list instead of a folder full of images? Because I wanted structure. Something sortable, interactive, and clean.

Here’s how I designed it:

• A unique ID for each piece of art (Art_001 to Art_065)

• A photo column

• A notes column (for context, damage, room location, etc.)

• A dropdown column with three options: Keep, Discard, Undecided (defaulting to Undecided)

Then, I added custom permissions so that only the CEO and my coworker could view and edit the list. No confusion, no clutter, and no unnecessary eyes.

The Execution: Personal Tech Meets Practical Need

For the actual photography, I brought in some of my own gear:

• My Motorola Edge (2021) smartphone for decent photo quality

• A tripod I recently bought for MotoLinux projects

• A Niimbot label maker to tag each painting with its unique ID

• A remote shutter so I could take photos without touching the phone—or showing up in any reflections

I went around the office, pulling down, centralizing their location, then carefully labeling each piece. With them labeled, I began hanging them one by one on a clean wall. This let me shoot consistent, reflection-free photos in order. Since my phone is set up to auto-backup to Google Photos, I could easily retrieve and rename each image before uploading it to SharePoint.

The Result: A Small Win That Mattered

By the time I finished building out the list and uploading everything, the task was complete (and elegant). When I called my coworker (who works from home on Mondays) to let her know, I could hear the relief in her voice. This one task had been a source of dread, and now it was just...handled.

Later this week, I’ll be renting a van and driving the paintings to the New York office with her, another quiet way to close the loop.

Why I Did It

Was it part of my official job? No.

But sometimes, it’s not about whose responsibility something is. It’s about recognizing when someone needs help and knowing you’re capable of providing it. I had the tools, the time, and the mindset. Not to mention I didn’t like seeing someone I respect so distressed.

This wasn’t some major IT victory or career-defining moment. But it was a reminder of the kind of teammate I want to be: someone who notices the cracks and quietly fills them, even if it means bringing my own personal items such as a label maker and tripod to the office.