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Re: Seeking counsel - yet another difficult work situation (very long!)
Subject:Re: Seeking counsel - yet another difficult work situation (very long!) From:"Simon North" <Simon -dot- North -at- quintiq -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 05 Jan 2005 16:04:54 +0100
I share David Castro's experience.
I recently came from EDA where the R&D engineers had very little time
and were often several thousand miles and quite a few time zones away.
You were expected to learn to use all the tools and languages and to
manage very much on your own. In the 15 or so years before that, in
electronics and as a contractor, it was always like that.
Having experienced the novel (for me) pleasure of being unexpectedly
laid off, I now document ALS software (including a business logic
editor, a GUI development tool, and a proprietory language). My manager
expects me to use my time 'efficiently' and complains when I try and
work things out for myself. I am supposed to 'manage' the SMEs and get
them to write the material. If they don't provide the material in time,
I am at fault because I haven't managed them properly.
It's always been my experience that you need a little knowledge before
you can even begin to ask sensible questions, and you often need to
appreciate what's there before you can grasp what is missing. While I
may make an initial approach to an SME seeking general counsel, I would
be embarassed to go back a second time not having mastered what I was
given the first time.
Simon North
Quintiq Application Software BV
's Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
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