Re: Should the Doc Manager be equal to the Dev Manager? (LONG)

[reni -at- intellitel -dot- com]

Hi.

I am both Documentation manager and Development manager. Three years ago I 
started as a lone Technical writer. Back then we had 19 employees. Today we 
have 60 employees and five writers (including me). Although my title has 
changed during these years I have always been a Development manager of some 
kind. Why? Because I have the best knowledge about documentation. And I had 
enough time to take care of the responsibilities of Dev.manager.

> Do you think the Documentation Manager should be equal to -- or report to --
> the Development Manager?

As a Development Manager I report directly to Director of Product 
Development. So do Project and Program Managers. The Technical Writer(s) 
assigned to a project report to Project Manager and Development Manager 
(me). When I act as a Technical Writer I report to Project Manager (and to 
myself :).

The development managers have the responsibility to help the project 
manager to do the project planning. Dev. Managers also say if it is 
possible to meet the requirements in given timeline. If we have several 
projects arguing about same resources the Director of Product Development 
will decide the priorisation (together with few other people from 
marketing, development, etc.) between projects.

> General Reasons for NOT Reporting to the Dev. Mgr
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 1. A Documentation Manager has similar responsibility to the Development
> Manager.
>
> I have to gather deadlines and requirements from our Marketing and Support
> staff, determine the best user assistance (help, better UI, print), select
> the tools, prepare the deliverables, ensure their accuracy and completeness,
> and deliver them. Given an impossible staffing situation (me and a summer
> intern), I have to make very difficult tradeoffs almost minute by minute
> when selecting which deliverables get first priority.

In your case when the Development manager acts as Project and Program 
manager you should report to him. You should also tell him if you are not 
receiving enough information from other developers or if you can't reach 
the project goals in given time. If he also acts as Documentation manager 
(as you stated) he has the responsibility to ensure the projects with 
enough documentation resources. As a Technical writer you should give him 
enough information about your work goals to help him to make the 
decisions.

> 2. Tech writers need authority to negotiate with Development.

Correct. But the authority may be given to you by Development manger (or 
Project manager). You don't have to be Documentation manager for this.

> 3. Tech writers are the resident authority on user assistance and may be
> more customer-focused than development staff.

Has this argument anything to do with reporting?

> Company-Specific Reasons for NOT reporting to the Dev. Mgr
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 2. The Dev. Mgr has "too much" authority.
> Development Manager also acts QA manager, product manager, project manager,
> and doc manager. There is no one equal to him. (There is no support manager;
> support staff operating relatively independently.) The only people higher
> than him are his boss (VP of Operations), the VP of Marketing, and the Pres.
> I think having someone equal to the Dev. Mgr would provide some
> accountability and balance.

As a Technical writer you report to project manager (in your case he is 
same person as Development Manager). As a Development Manager (or 
Documentation manager) you should report to Development Manager.

> Reasons for Reporting to the Dev. Mgr
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 1. Documentation is part of the development deliverable.
> Since tech writers produce deliverables that are part of the CD (help and
> PDFs), we need to be integrated as part of Development.

Correct.

-- 
Reni Waegelein
    [we:gelain]

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