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Re: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy? (a long rant)

Subject: Re: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy? (a long rant)
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2002 14:29:39 -0300


Jeanne A. E. DeVoto wrote:


No magic wand needed, as far as I've ever been able to tell. If when you
publish your schedule, the deadlines are clearly conditioned on development
milestones, and someone else on the team translates that into calendar
dates, doesn't shift your dates when your dependencies shift, and forgets
that you haven't committed to "May 5th, come hell or high water!", then
that is not your problem, is it? Your schedule is clear, and bad
assumptions on someone else's part don't constitute an emergency on your
part.

Well, I suppose you can work that way. But, for my part, I've never believed that tech-writing was simply a matter of keeping your head down and doing your immediate job while ignoring how you interact with others. So far as I'm concerned, part of the responsibility is keeping others informed. If your dependencies shift and the schedule doesn't, then you owe it to everyone you're working with to let them know and to work to change the schedule.
Moreover, keeping everyone informed is good self-protection. Even if you don't manage to get the schedule changed, if you're on record as requesting a change, then you're less likely to be blamed. If you don't say anything, and your co-workers only find out when the deadline passes without your finished work, then they have every right to be annoyed.

Shrugging it off as "not your problem" simply isn't the way that I choose to work.

--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"Better fail in a grand style than succeed in a mean one - you won't enjoy the successes you get the second way."
- Fritz Leiber, "The Oldest Soldier"




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RE: Ever wonder why techwhirler lives seem so crazy? (a long rant): From: Jeanne A. E. DeVoto

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