RE: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy? (a long rant)

Subject: RE: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy? (a long rant)
From: Emily Berk <emily -at- armadillosoft -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 18 Apr 2002 09:04:09 -0700


On Tue, 16 Apr 2002 22:43:39 -0700, from a high and mighty peak, looking way down on us poor plebeians, "Jeanne A. E. DeVoto" <jaed -at- jaedworks -dot- com> wrote:

>... If you are setting a documentation deadline, you *must* make it relative to code releases, *not* absolute. ...
>
>If the schedule you've set up has relative dates, it is crystal clear to
>everyone - even to people capable of assuming you can write the
>documentation in the five minutes between code freeze and an absolute
>deadline that was set months ago, before the schedule slipped - that the
>documentation will not be finished instantly and that you are not
>committing to doing magic. Cause and effect are made manifest in the
>schedule, so if engineering slips a release, they know there will be ripple
>effects in the doc schedule - because those effects are laid out in
>CYA-able black and white. ...
>
>Anything else will only lead to heartache and all-nighters, ...

So, Jeanne. You've found a way, preferably in Microsoft Project, to compel the project managers to put only relative dates into the schedule? (Even when they've got a late-Spring skiing weekend planned for a date certain and that last, late snow won't wait?)

Pray, please share.

(Or, should I keep on looking for that magic wand I misplaced?)

--Emily, who is still feeling pretty cranky, but I've enjoyed hearing from y'all on and off list!

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Emily Berk ~
On the web at www.armadillosoft.com *** Armadillo Associates, Inc. ~
~ Project management, developer relations and ~
extremely-technical technical documentation that developers find useful.~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Free copy of ARTS PDF Tools when you register for the PDF
Conference by April 30. Leading-Edge Practices for Enterprise
& Government, June 3-5, Bethesda,MD. www.PDFConference.com

Are you using Doc-to-Help or ForeHelp? Switch to RoboHelp for Word for $249
or to RoboHelp Office for only $499. Get the PC Magazine five-star rated
Help authoring tool for less! Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: Re: charging for the "commuting" part of telecommuting? or business travel
Next by Author: Salaries
Previous by Thread: RE: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy? (a long rant)
Next by Thread: RE: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy? (a long rant)


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads