Re: Technical writing in the development process

Subject: Re: Technical writing in the development process
From: "Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 15:55:07 -0400

" If it isn't, you need to be prepared to face the possibility that those who hired

you really had no business bringing in a writer because they weren't prepared to define his or her role on the team."

The above sentence does not just apply to my position in the company. There were four of us that started at the same time, all in very divergent positions, which at one time either didn't exist or were done strictly by a contractor; we are all trying to figure out the definition of our roles.
Our company is international and for years our office was just developers and the rest was handled either on a temp basis or overseas. We were all brought in to make this office more independent, however none of our roles have been very well defined.

Fortunately for me with the help of the great advice I have received from this list...I feel a lot better about defining my role. I really do have a great PM, however he is as overworked (if not more) than anyone in the office but I do trust that he values me and will listen (when he has time) as I figure out the best way forward...just frustration was blinding me to that way...thanks to you all for the replies. I know this is repeated on this list often, but it really is great to have the support that is shown on this list. Experience is always a great teacher...and there is a ton of experience on this list.

Thanks again!
Melissa






From: "Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
To: "Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>,<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>,"Diane Haugen" <WhiskeyCreek -at- wcdd -dot- com>
Subject: Re: Technical writing in the development process
Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2006 12:15:43 -0700

No, it's the standard definition of a badly managed development process. Unfortunately, it seems to me that it's becoming more
frequent, especially in products like software where manufacturers
figure that they can ship all sorts of <insert expletive here> and
then just post "bulletins" and "hotfixes" every couple of days instead of actually performing some sort of planning and testing before they ship to ensure the product really works and its users
can figure out how to make it work.

You can try to develop strategies for "justifying your existence"
and your place on the development team (I have many times),
but ultimately, the answer to the question "who gives you the right" should properly be the name of someone whose instruction
the person asking the question is bound to respect. If it isn't, you need to be prepared to face the possibility that those who hired you really had no business bringing in a writer because they weren't prepared to define his or her role on the team.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- From: "Diane Haugen" <WhiskeyCreek -at- wcdd -dot- com>
At 7:17 PM -0400 6/24/06, Melissa Nelson wrote:

Presently, at my office I am not involved at all until the very end and then I find myself trying to do eight weeks of documentation in two or three weeks, as the developers tend to see a July 30th deadline as meaning they should have it done on July 29th. :)

As Geoff Hart has indicated, isn't this the standard definition of technical writing?



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