Respect or no?

[Michelle Nichols/VENTANA <Michelle_Nichols/VENTANA -dot- ITP -at- LGATE -dot- VMEDIA -dot- COM>]

In an earlier post, I mentioned that the lack of respect was one reason I left
a computer company.....let me give you one clear example.....

I was a developer of online help systems.  I took it upon myself to understand
every aspect of online help systems, from the best designs, to the compiling
and debugging, to the hooking of help panels into the product itself.  I knew
this from several previous products and projects I had worked on.

On the project I worked on, the programmers were getting ready to do the help
hooks.  When I approached them with information about how the best way to do
this task, they told me that they had figured out their own way and I just
needed to provide them with the help IDs.  I cannot tell you how many problem
reports were created on the help hooks alone because they wouldn't take the
time to listen to me.

I think lack of respect comes when the management and leaders of a project do
not understand the skills and abilities that a technical writer can bring to a
project.  Sure, I tried to educate these people, but when your head is
flattened against a brick wall time and time again, you eventually go back to
your corner and regroup and figure out another way.....

Thanks,
Michelle Nichols

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