permalancer

[Ned Bedinger]

[EYES ONLY]

McLauchlan, Kevin wrote:

   That method of
> debate has a name that I once knew...  something bucolic... um,
> "hayseed"? Nope.   Um, "scarecrow"? Nope. Help me out here, I'm grasping
> at ... "straws"...   :-)
> 

"Trying to thread a camel thru the eye of a needle inna haystack."


But what about this one?

"
 > The notion that TWs (or programmers) have arcane skill sets so
 > specific to the particular job at hand that they are unreplaceable is 
 > misguided. If that situation exists, it is a deficiency in managerial 
 > competence; the manager(s) turned over responsibility for task
 > completion to the employees.


I classify it as a variant of the rhetorical device known as "mirrors" 
which comprises barbershop mirrors, funhouse mirrors, smoke and ....

That is, if the writer or programmer does not execute and document the 
work so thoroughly that their successor can simply pick up the thread 
and continue where they left off, and that failure is taken as a failure 
of management, then isn't the management failure likely to be actually a 
failure at some higher level (let's say, a stockholder failure, just for 
hyuks) to require a thoroughgoing documentation methodology on all 
projects great and small, such that no one can gain career leverage by 
stashing secret special knowledge in a private hope chest. AND, to 
complete the mirror cycle, of course, the tech writer is responsible for 
making the mandated project documentation happen, and the manager must 
facilitate the tech writer by ensuring access, and all dev leads are 
obliged to be forthcoming, etc...

Honextly, I've begun thinking that the OP is a brilliant management 
theoretician and strategist. Let's get him onboard before some rogue 
power discovers he's missing or snaps him up.

Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith
D'fence # 3.214NSK1