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1) Best Tech Writing Practices or Best Tech Comm Practices?
I do lots of writing. I do lots of design. I do lots of teaching. I compile
lots of HTML help. I do lots of meetings with development and QA teams.
It's all Technical Communications and it's best practices insofar as my
experience allows. But it's not all writing. So in my world, your
"hard-headedness" on sentence structure could be a detriment if it's your
only focus. On the other hand, I might just choose to fight a different
battle, rather than fighting you on something you are so passionate about.
I see hard-headedness as a different quality from ego mania.
2) Your perception of "incompetence" on the part of a team member could, in
fact, be lack of experience, global rather than logical thinking patterns,
and a host of other things. If you have the patience to determine the
nature of a team problem and the willingness to help resolve it, you'd be
OK. If you automatically assume incompetence and refuse to work out a
solution, you'd be a detriment. I'm a global thinker and a multi-tasker. I
adore working with people who are logical and procedural and single-tasking
because they bring a different perspective to the table. The primary
problem I've faced is that logical single-taskers tend to be intolerant of
global multi-taskers. I've learned ways to build teams and work with such
folks more effectively, which IMHO, are part of best practices.
Rigidity is a matter of degree, and extremely rigid people rarely work well
in a team environment.
FWIW
Connie Giordano
-----Original Message-----
From: gyaker -at- csc -dot- com [mailto:gyaker -at- csc -dot- com]
[snip]
What's it like working on a team of tech writers? Lets say 1, A small team
of
3-5 and 2, a larger team like the type that would work on a highly
formalized
project.
[snip]
A few of the list members have shown (daily) their strong opinions on a
single 'right' way of doing things. In the same spirit, I'm kind of
hard-headed in so much as sentence A can clearly be better than sentence B,
and to this I would fight to the end. Are people like this a detriment to a
team of tech writers, especially if they are not in the Sr. position?
[snip]
Before becoming disillusioned with management I can be obnoxious in trying
to write the "Best Documentation". I am worried that if I work on a team of
writers,especially under a senior who I don't 100% feel employs the best
tech writing practices, I would be quite unhappy. This also applies for
working alongside incompetent TWs.
Gil Yaker
gyaker -at- csc -dot- com
Computer Sciences Corporation
Federal Black Lung Project
