Re: Uncooperative SMEs

[GeneK <gene -at- genek -dot- com>]

I can't say that I've ever had that problem.  Sometimes SMEs are just too 
darned busy to be able to spend any
sizable amount of time with a writer, but I don't recall ever encountering 
one that just didn't want to help out.  Of
course, *nobody* wants to spend their time with someone who doesn't display 
personal intiative, ingenuity or
charm and isn't willing to do a bit of back scratching from time to 
time...would you?

As far as management "buy-in" is concerned, I've not had much difficulty 
getting it from engineering department
heads, who usually seem to understand that a complex piece of equipment 
can't go out the door with a Xerox
copy of some engineer's notes.  Upper corporate management is another 
matter, the only thing that matters
to bean counters residing in offices 3000 miles away from the hands-on 
developers is, can we bill a customer
for what these people are procucing, and in those instances where Technical 
Publications has reported to
Product Support, Marketing, or any other areas besides product engineering, 
getting support for documentation
has always been like pulling teeth even when product managers are screaming 
for more.

Gene Kim-Eng




At 11:29 AM 3/20/2003 -0800, tgr -at- lanminds -dot- com wrote: