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I searched the archives and read the discussion "what department are you in"
from December 1999. My situation is a little different as I am not a lone
writer. Here is my situation: My sub-department, Education and Documentation
consists of 2 technical writers and 1 education development
specialist/trainer. We are currently under Client Services which also
includes Support and Client Care. In about a month's time, Client Services
is merging with Implementation and Consulting Services to form the
mega-department Professional Services. Not sure how the education specialist
feels, but both writers are pretty sure we don't fit into this scheme. We
have never felt Client Services is the right group for us, partly because we
sat in the opposite corner from Research and Development and QA, our primary
SMEs. We fought and complained and were able to move a quarter turn around
the office, but we're still a ways away. Our manager (manager of Client
Services) is on maternity leave and in her absence, we have been reporting
to the director, R&D. Both writers feel being a part of R&D would be a
better place for us because we view documentation as a product, not a
service, and we know that 95% of our information comes from R&D. They often
forget about us and we think being among them and part of them would improve
this situation. The other department that might work are Product Management.
Our tasks are end-user documentation including paper-based manuals, online
help, release notes, etc. We occasionally edit or proofread for marketing
but we don't actually write for marketing. My question is two-fold. 1) If
anyone is in a similarly structured company, what is your ideal department?
And why? 2) How did/would you convince senior management that changing
departments is a good idea. Thanks for your help!
Teresa Scheuerman
Technical Writer
Selkirk Financial Technologies
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