Re: Responsibility, blame, managers, and getting the job done

[Gene Kim-Eng <gene -at- genek -dot- com>]

I've actually had developers lock my writers *out* of the development process,
including attending development team meetings, until a particular date, saying
that things were "too fluid," and that "there won't be anything for you to 
document
until then," putting them in a position where it wouldn't be possible for 
any writer,
no matter how good, to produce what our company at the time considered a
"standard" document set.  My approach to this situation was to have the writer
prepare a documentation plan based on reducing the document set to what could
realistically be done in the time allotted, and to not cut down on any of 
the verification
steps needed to ensure that what little could be done was accurate.  When the
product manager saw how little documentation would be going out the door 
with his
product, the doors opened.  Perhaps that kind of management support is what
Bonnie had in mind, because it's easy to imagine a writer who didn't get it 
being
doomed to failure from the start no matter how "responsible" he or she 
is.  But that
would be my definition of "time to start jobhunting" handwriting on the 
wall, and I
would say that a writer who would remain in such a no-win setting any 
longer than
was absolutely necessary was not being responsible for watching out for his 
or her
own well-being.

Gene Kim-Eng



At 12:00 PM 4/7/2003 -0400, Deb M. wrote: