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Chuck Martin [mailto:CMartin -at- serena -dot- com] asks, regarding 'them engineers':
> I have an issue with this, one that seems to come up over and
> over: why does
> this have to be a one-way street? Why is it often offered as
> a "solution" to
> kowtow to the programmer god? [...]
> Offering to take
> notes in a meeting is not selfless, but simply a
> self-acceptance that you're
> just a glorified secretary, and so deserve to be treated as
> such outside the
> meeting as well.
Well, it DOES depend on how you look at it.... I tend to see it the
way Orwell did: "'Who controls the past' ran the Party slogan,
'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.'"
Yeah, we're professionals. Yeah, we deserve respect. But to get the
job done, you may need to bow down a little. And believe me, ain't
nothin' like the gratitude you get from a developer whose ass you
saved with your chillingly accurate, reliable notes.
I started out taking notes, now I'm running the meetings
and JAD sessions. Chill. When they start asking you to
pick up their dry cleaning is the time to get angry.
steve arrants
Stephen Arrants
Manager of Technical Communications
ROI Direct.com
415.439.7551
www.roidirect.com
