RE: Should the Doc Manager be equal to the Dev Manager? Response

["Teemu S." <tselane -at- home -dot- com>]

This email is a response from the thread originator and a new question for
discussion (at bottom).

I'd like to thank those who responded to my questions about whether a Doc
Mgr should be equal to a Dev. Mgr.

The comments were humbling and helpful. Some responders intuited the real
issue behind my post -- a conflict between the Dev Mgr and me, the tech
writer.

Titles: I never intended to get into the issue of titles. I'm not the least
bit interested in them, even though my manager regularly asks me about
changing mine (from senior tech writer).

The Central Issue: I was trying to ask a theoretical question about who
should make final decisions about documentation. I strongly believe that
_some_ Dev Mgr's are not capable of making good documentation decisions.
Such decisions should be made by either a tech writer or someone who
understands customers (such as a product manager or support staff).

Customer-Focus: The question of whether tech writers understand customers is
irresolvable. It varies among tech writers and companies. In my case, the
dev mgr has no understanding or respect for customers and I at least
constantly attempt to.

Power: I really am not interested in empire building or a power grab. I felt
that the Dev Mgr was making documentation decisions based on the interests
of developers, not users. I was trying to find ways of dealing with that.

The Bottom Line: What I've learned from all this is that I need to learn how
to argue better and I need to gain the courage to openly disagree with my
boss more often.

I have lacked confidence, especially in the presence of a forceful, 6'6"
boss who dominates everyone in the company (including his superiors most of
the time). I am also loathe to debate every decision I make with someone who
thinks usability is a joke and understands nothing about documentation.

I thought it would help if I could argue with the Dev. Mgr from some other
position other than a subordinate one. Whether it was a support tech writer
or a Doc Mgr, I didn't care. I just wanted more autonomy to set priorities.
I thought that I could make a case for having a tech writer report to
someone other than the Dev Mgr.

But the fact is that I need to learn how to express needs and decisions
clearly, argue my case, and openly disagree with my boss.

Topic for Future Discussion: There are unique challenges facing lone tech
writers in companies with very immature processes. How and when do we
express needs from development? I know how things are supposed to work in
the ideal world or in large companies. But in a small, immature company, I
just "make it happen," working around all the barriers without identifying
them as barriers. As the demands increase and increase, I continue to "make
it happen" rather than explaining that development will have to change its
ways if I am to achieve the new goals. (Of course, it would help to have
more tech writers, but that's not possible. We don't even have a trained
tester.)

Over the past year, I have focused on asking for improvements to the user
interface. I explained that a better UI would require fewer pages of
explanation, which saves the company lots of money in tech writing time and
translation costs. My boss finally accepted this. But he has no one able to
improve the UI. All of the developers are terrible at UI, except one who is
dedicated to a year-long project. So if I wanted improvements, I had to do
them. I was delighted at the opportunity, but can not follow through without
compromising several other more important projects.

Question:  What changes can a development department make that would help a
lone tech writer produce more? Better UI through UI reviews and iterations.
Specifications that are accurate and up to date? Bug tracking processes?
Project plans? A UI freeze some time before ship date? A development freeze
some time before ship date? Hiring a real tester?



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

*** 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.