Re: About responsibility and fault
In some companies, writers are let off the hook because management knows itWhat I have trouble understanding is how many writers let themselves off the hook because somebody else doesn't blame them. I cast no aspersions on anyone else, but, if I did that, then I would not consider a mature individual.
has not established documentation as a part of the product itself.
That's not to say that writers often have to educate other people in the company. They do, and sometimes that's difficult. But they need to make the effort, all the same if they want to be held in respect.
Technical writers should not have to cajole, assert, romance, or do anythingYes, and I should have been born rich and should be recognized for my own merits, and my enemies should be dipped head-first into boiling rancid olive oil, too. Ideally, you shouldn't have to educate other people about your work, or build connections to do your job; realistically, you're going to have to do these things unless you can earn a living without interacting with other people.
other than perform their jobs professionally.
Befriending a developer so thatTo me, it's called being a team-player and being diplomatic. Both these things are signs of professionalism, so far as I'm concerned.
a writer gets information is unprofessional.
Management's job is to make sureActually, management's job is help make money for the company.
that everybody has what he or she needs to do his or her job.
However, it's true that this job partly requires enabling everybody else. But managers can't do that in a vacum. They need feedback about problems. If working conditions are making your job hard to accomplish, then you need to keep management informed about the problems. You can't expect managers to observe your problems magically - they have other concerns. As I said, the assumption is that professionals will produce profesional work until results prove that assumption wrong.
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Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield
"There'll be tears in the eyes of the weak,
And in the eyes of the most strong-hearted,
Tears in the eyes of the miners and wives
When these coal town days are through."
-Jez Lowe, "These Coal Town Days"
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References:
About responsibility and fault: From: Eric J. Ray
Re: About responsibility and fault: From: Kat Nagel, MasterWork Consulting
Re: About responsibility and fault: From: Bonnie Granat
Re: About responsibility and fault: From: Bruce Byfield
Re: About responsibility and fault: From: Bonnie Granat
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