Re: "Linux is now not supported"

[Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>]

Going with my Sunday feeling, I want to now leap through a burning ring 
of fire and attempt to rescue this hypothetical poor unfortunate tech 
writer from ignominy and oblivion by revisiting, with commentary, the 
terms evoked by Posada's poser. 


1.  John is describing a top-down decision-making organization.  Many of 
us do not have that experience (strong top-down organizational 
structure), and our preference for a more horizontally-inspired 
organization is perfectly clear, but dear colleagues let us not escape 
into fantasy by making the subject tech writer over into a someone 
somewhere else.  This question does not pose a situation that admits a 
tech writer who can suddenly come into the light, consult with project 
mavens to test or verify the news, or arrange an ad hoc huddle of 
managers.  Eaux contraires!  This writer apparently only tools info into 
documents, and is not an integrated team member with whom the project 
managers share anything, let alone on Friday afternoon when they are 
unreachable by email, voicemail, or office visit. If you accept this 
interpretation, go to point #3.


2. The decision makers obviously do not consider Tech Writing to be a 
stakeholder of any consequence (so see point #1).  This is clearly 
implied by the question, or at worst competes effectively with one 
alternative interpretation: the department knew about the change but 
didn't tell the tech writer.  If the interviewer put me into that 
alternative situation, I'd draw out an ooky face while mulling whether 
to strip to my Superman underwear and give the performance of my life, 
or just gather my stuff and spend the morning doing the NYT Crossword at 
the corner Chock Full O' Not counter.  How to choose, with so much 
savory fun just moments away?


3.  Solutions that propose that this (now) heroic tech writer will 
jumpstart a cross-functional management-level investigation are, ha ha, 
comic book fantasy ha ha for interviewers.  Plausible developments do 
spring from this genre of solutions--consider diverting the discussion 
into the 'graphic novels as effective instructional design' theme, and 
tell the interviewer of plans to create a comic book that teaches the 
organization how to use tech writers effectively.  The interviewer will 
be speechless!  Now is the time to deliver the kicker:  Lokk upward, to 
the left as you describe your plans to have the comic localized for 
overseas offices, and serialized with monthly installments to cover the 
entire documentation cycle. ...

4.  My provincial reading of the between-the-lines context of this 
question, and this has been brought out by so many management-inspired 
answers to date, is if you want the job, read the interviewer and give a 
beauty queen's answer.  If you don't want the job, give them the truth 
of the matter.  This is what we're tumbling to, a management lovefest at 
the expense of techwriters?  Dammit Posada!  Before this thread goes 
totally off the Bogusity scale, post the right answer, will ya??


Thanks in advance,

Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com

John Posada wrote:

"It's Friday afternoon, your four 200-page document PDFs are on the
FinalPDF server to be picked up by the build server, the build is
Saturday morning, and you heard that Linux is now not supported. Tell me
what you do in the first 15 minutes."


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