Reviewers who don't review

[stevefjong at comcast.net]

Reviewers who don't review boost my blood pressure, too.

I see two components to the problem, one generic to all jobs and one specific to 
technical communication. My gut reaction is personal: *I* could never get away 
with such a lame excuse for not doing my job, so how can they? I can't imagine 
being able to get away with saying I didn't include information because I was 
too busy to answer the phone, or listen to voicemail, or read e-mail, or attend 
a meeting, or read a spec. Doesn't the negligent reviewer have a manager who 
measures the reviewer’s job performance? I suppose the assertive thing to do is 
to provide feedback to that manager. It's not something I'm comfortable doing, 
but God knows it happens every day.

For technical communicators, review is often treated as a favor requested of 
reviewers: would you review my document, pretty please? I'd be ever so 
grateful... That leads to overuse of the carrot (chocolate et al) and reluctance 
to use the stick (as evidenced by my discomfort 8^). As a coping strategy,
I have advocated getting  doc milestones, especially review and signoff, onto the project manager's GANTT chart, at which point they become project milestones 
and you gain an important ally in the struggle. (It's the project manager's job to wield the stick, after all.)

I also see an issue with the solution Gene offered (threaten to hold up the 
release until the documentation is reviewed). This is a big stick, but is it a 
real one? I've been in plenty of situations where the doc manager (sometimes 
me) says, "We will never cause a schedule slip." That is in fact the 
mantra of most tech doc group. I've been to plenty of status meetings 
where--to mix my metaphor--every other group pulls that particular club out of 
their bag, but never Documentation. Perhaps the writer who's too nice to rat out 
his reviewer becomes the manager who's too accommodating to threaten to hold up 
the release. But it's a big stick, isn't it? So, shouldn't we be using it?