Paul Stephens

Group Efforts Paul Stephens

Quirky, office-based British humour of a seriously mild nature, originally published as a magazine series and now in a revised version with extra material. Group Efforts is the fictional (allegedly) diary of Bernard Pierce, a departmental manager in a medium-sized company in the English Home Counties. It's set in the 1990s, a time before iPhones when the Internet was new, CDs were still the latest thing and office stationery cupboards still contained actual carbon paper. As Planning Manager and leader of the Worshipful Company of Line Management All Stars, Bernard's mission is to resist the ruthless imposition of new (and not always beneficial) computer technology by ambitious I. T. manager Chris Llewellyn, a task to which he finds himself uniquely, if inexplicably, suited. He's ably assisted by his comrades George Barker (Purchasing) and Andy Miller (Contracts), as well as his team, including the fearsome Rose and June, ever-organised Sheila, ever-scheming Danny and razor-sharp Amrat, a young man with I. T. ambitions of his own. Computer technology isn't the only thing that's changing in Group Efforts; it's also the story of the last days of an old style of business and its replacement with something more recognisable today. Think of it as a much gentler version of 'The Office' (though written before it!), without the monstrous (but very funny) David Brent character at its centre. Instead we have Bernard Pierce, film buff, diarist extraordinaire and upholder of the Line Management Way. Sit back, marvel at just how slow and clunky computers were back then, and enjoy! Group Efforts first appeared as a monthly serial in PC Plus magazine (UK), between 1994 and 2001. This edition is based on the author's original manuscript and includes additional material that wasn't published in the magazine.