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Subject:Take this engineer and shove it From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> To:techwr-l digest recipients <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 26 May 2000 09:41:29 -0700
Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
>You want respect?
I agree wholeheartedly with Andrew's list. However, after all the
engineer bashing that's been on the list on this thread (some of
it contributed by me), I'd like to add: get to understand your
subject matter experts.
The most important thing to understand is that most SMEs -
especially coders - think of themselves as artists, or at least
skilled at their craft. They like to have their skill
appreciated, and they tend to see their work as its own reward;
beyond a certain point, money doesn't mean that much to them
compared to job satisfaction. They're inwardly motivated people.
Once you understand what motivates them, you're two-thirds of the
way to getting along with them.
Just as importantly, if you can get them to understand that
you're motivated the same way (and I think that many, if not most
tech-writers are), then they will be far more likely to give you
the respect that you crave.
--
Bruce Byfield, Outlaw Communications
"The Open Road" column, Maximum Linux
3015 Aries Place, Burnaby, BC V3J 7E8, Canada
bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7189
"I should have known it from the start,
It's not the truth that really matters,
The real world tramples on such things,
Leaves your mental state in tatters."
-James Keelaghan, "Small Rebellions"
