Re: the Scope of TW

[John Posada <John_Posada -at- NOTES -dot- CC -dot- BELLCORE -dot- COM>]

Dave...

I do proposal responses and deal with teams of anywhere from 6 people to 30
people contributing to a proposal.  Needless to say, when you have that many
people involved, you will have a wide range of opinions on how a document is to
be done and what the priorities are.

However, because my documents usually have a specific due date that CANNOT be
missed, I can't afford to waltz around and argue, cajole, escalate, massage
egos, etc.

Therefore, when someone wants something done that I strongly disagree with, but
can't afford to stall on, I simply outline my point, objectively, on paper and
ask the person to sign/date the "exception authorization".  Sometimes they do,
sometimes they see the "errors of their ways" and sometimes they say "I'm not
signing anything, but do it anyway".

If that fails, I send an email documenting both sides in a very objective
manner, send a copy to the project manager, to my boss and to the person, and
have a "Delivered Receipt" and a "Received Receipt" returned to me and I keep
all the material on file.

On the other hand, I'm lucky that I'm taken as seriously for my part of the
process as much as the other members of the team are taken seriously for their
part of the process, so I don't have to do this often.  Where I will always do
it is if I get pricing from one person, then request to change the pricing from
another person.  I get them to submit the changes in writing and have them
sign/date the document.

John Posada
- Central New Jersey Employment Manager
Society for Technical Communication
http://stc.org/region2/njc/

- Technical Proposal Writer
Bell Communications Research
(908) 699-5839 (W)
jposada -at- notes -dot- cc -dot- bellcore -dot- com

"We dont want to go back to tomorrow, we want to go forward'"
        - Vice President Dan Quayle
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I don't speak for my employer and they return the favor
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Gotta make this quick, so I'll leave out the details.

Just got done talking with a programmer about a chapter he wants
included in the manual.  Problem is, I'm supposed to generate the
TOC and index and have the whole thing over to the printer by
close of business today.

The programmer wants me to add the chapter and not put in any
index entries for it.  Says an accurate TOC and index aren't
important.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that we technical writers face more
than just the usual discrimination about not being as important
as programmers.  We also face the belief that quality manuals
aren't that important either.

Sure, I could do what he says--if I don't mind putting out poor
quality work.  But that's not how I operate.  And that's not the
sort of downward spiral I care to indulge; if I give in now, I'll
never again be able to defend putting out high quality.

Fortunately, I can wrap myself in the flag of quality and stand
my ground.

Gotta go!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Dave Meek

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