re: Stress Management Amongst Technical Writers

[SIANNON -at- VISUS -dot- JNJ -dot- com]

Warren Singer writes:
     1. If you were to list the five most stressful aspects 
     of being a technical writer (from most to least stressful), 
     what items would you list?
     [snip]
     2. Are there any specific strategies you use to cope with 
     work stress?
     [snip]


1.  -- Required telepathy (e.g., trying to document something before 
       it exists, while it is under constant change)
    -- Required vertical learning curve with no pre-existing 
       documentation on what you are attempting to learn, and SMEs
       who are too time-crunched to be available (e.g., "we need
       you to do documentation for this project, because it never
       had any; what kind? you'll have to determine what it needs;
       who are the SMEs? well, so-and-so knows this one part, and 
       so-and-so came on board last month, and this other guy's been 
       here for three...; when's it due? well, the project's already
       two years behind, so as soon as possible--we go live in a month")
    -- Working within constrictive existing paradigms (e.g., "it
       needs to be done this way because it has always been done this
       way, even if another way is more effective, efficient and/or
       economical")
    -- Balancing the needs of other personalities (e.g., dealing
       with fragile egos or defensiveness when wearing the "QA" hat)
    -- Tools that develop destructive idiosyncrasies (e.g., "My PC is
       possessed...it just ate my file, and Word has decided to 
       automatically correct all instances of the word 'carton' with 
       the word 'cartoon' even though I have all automatic spelling 
       and grammar functions disabled")
       
2.  -- Silliness and humor. (e.g., the key for the secured 
       documentation cabinet is attached to a plastic pixie-stick) 
       The SMEs and I joke about unrealistic expectations and any 
       issues anyone is "sensitive" about, thereby defusing most
       of the stress they can cause. 
    -- Fur therapy - I have five cats at home who are dedicated to
       distracting me from the workday.
    -- Taking the full lunch hour, and using it to read something
       completely unrelated to work.
    -- William Ernest Henley's poem "Invictus" is posted in my cube.
    -- Have a life outside of work to escape to (re-enactment events,
       coffeehouse discussions, gaming, etc.)



Shauna Iannone
--------------------------------------------
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher 
a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, 
build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, 
cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, 
program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. 
Specialization is for insects.
-- Lazarus Long

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and 
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe.  http://ieeepcs.org/2001/

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.