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> So, I perceive demonstrating value is important and it is not a mystery why.
You gotta retermine what your org. values to demonstrate value. You
could be the best damned tech writer on the planet, but if your
employer values engineers and ad hoc development efforts as a organic
form of development process, well, your value, no matter how good you
are, will not be registered. Maybe there's some other way to
demonstrate value there? Maybe there's no hope in some organizations.
I've worked for some real gems. One guy I reported to - the CTO - used
to beat the crap out of office furniture when he was upset (I mean to
the point of it needing to be replaced, out in the open, in front of
everyone). We went through 20 filing cabinets in a year, no lie. He
was not easy to please. He had his own way he wanted things done. So I
said OK, I'll do it your way and only your way. He was happy. I
produced crap for 4 months. He was very upset, but I reminded him of
our deal, and he had to suck up being wrong and then commanded me (he
only commanded, he never asked) to do what I needed to do to get it
right.
I worked for a person who had a PhD in English, so of course I knew
nothing compared to that person. I was hired to fix their
documentation process and streamline things for single-sourcing. But,
my PhD boss was always right, of course, and if I wanted to do
something different I had to write up a formal proposal for change.
This got old very quick. Long story short... the team quit one by one
so it was just me and this PhDoofus. Layoff time came and they needed
to off one doc person, so I was shown the door. A few weeks later the
VP calls me to apologize, saying they made a mistake and laid off the
wrong person after all. LOL!!! Could I come back? Um, no!!!
Sometimes you can prove value, and other times you have to just let
the value make itself known. And in still other situations, your value
will never shine because your organization isn't looking for value,
just throughput.
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