Re: Is this a typical technical writing environment?

["Mark Baker" <listsub -at- analecta -dot- com>]

Lucy Connor wrote:

> Will I always be the last to know about new developments?  Or is this
> something that varies from job to job?  Do any of you deal with this?
How?

You will be the last to know about new developments until you discover the
process by which design decisions are made and communicated and insert
yourself into it. Every design groups has some way of reaching design
decisions and communicating them. You need to find out how it is done and
become part of it. If there is a meeting, go to the meeting. If there is a
mailing list get yourself on the mailing list.

You can always ask the development manager how decisions get made and ask to
be included in the process. If you meet resistance, point out that you will
take up less of the developers time if you get the information first hand
when the decision is made. Make the point in terms of making the developers
lives easier, not in terms of making yours easier. And don't ask for a
communication channel to be established just for you. Find the existing
communication channel and become a part of it.

Others had advised developing relationships with the developers, and that is
a good thing. But try not to rely on back-door communication channels. They
will never be reliable. Get yourself plugged into the main communication
channel.

Mark Baker
Analecta Communications