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Re: Anyone Can Write - Just Look At The Job Descriptions
Subject:Re: Anyone Can Write - Just Look At The Job Descriptions From:beelia <beelia -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Ed <glassnet -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Sun, 7 Aug 2011 17:35:30 -0700
In my experience, when someone says "make it pretty", he is telling
the company how important and clever he is, and how insignificant the
contribution of the tech writer is.
> In most companies, if your bosses think enough of what you do to let you "make" them do anything, you're in a pretty good place.
Gene, I rarely disagree with you, but you're missing the patronizing
tone that usually accompanies "she makes me dot my i's and t's". What
he really means that his i's and t's are about as important as washing
his socks.
> I don't mind people saying I make their documents "pretty," as long as I'm the one who defines what "pretty" means.
By "pretty", they mean that the content is perfect, but it isn't in
the company format - or he doesn't know how to number the pages and
put in headers and footers.
Usually these guys (and they are always guys) are really insecure, do
mediocre work, and their documents are so bad they need a total
rewrite.
Whenever I hear "make it pretty" I don't get mad - I just lose respect
for that person and try to avoid working with him (because I might end
up doing his job and not getting credit for it).
I spent decades letting stuff like this slide because I needed the
job. Considering the unemployment rate, I guess that might qualify as
being "in a pretty good place."
Bee
On Sun, Aug 7, 2011 at 12:28 PM, Ed <glassnet -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> At a four-day meeting I was told by the SME that it was time for me to
> make his documents pretty.
> 'Nuff said.
>
> --
> Ed
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