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While I don't always agree with Andrew, I do this time. I've been
following this thread since the beginning and what I see is Andrew
saying that as professional (writer, technical writer, flower arranger,
whatever) you have to accept a level of responsibility. I'm currently
the lone technical writer on a project where documentation is viewed as
a necessary evil. Does it suck...you bet. But, their lack of
enthusiasm for documentation rests partially with the previous writer
who sucked up 11 weeks of the contract, produced absolute garbage, then
left without warning. (He called back a week later to offer his
services on a remote basis.) It's been 12 weeks and I've delivered a
150 page illustrated draft Reference Guide and on-line context-sensitive
help application (using RoboHelp X3). The program is changing
constantly, so keeping everything 100 percent accurate is difficult at
best. If a mistake is found, I acknowledge it, fix it and get back to
business. Anything else would be unprofessional. After over 20 years
in this business, I have found that people who focus on fixing the blame
(rather than fixing the problem) are often part of the problem. Because
of my efforts, I am now accepted by the SMEs and developers and we are
exploring the possibility of me doing periodic upgrades after the
contract ends and creating a on-line tutorial. Both the upgrades and
tutorial will be done out of my home office which will soon be located
several thousand miles from the work site.
What does it matter if Andrew no longer works as a technical writer?
Does that make his comments any less valuable? Someone brought up Dr.
Demming...he's not a technical writer either, yet value was placed on
his thoughts. The question that needs to be asked is why do some people
take Andrew's comments so personal? The answer is they shouldn't if
they are professional. However, I can tell you from the contract I took
over that there is at least one of those non-professional "it's not my
fault" writers out there.
--
Al Geist, Geist Associates
From Concept to Completion
Technical Writing, Publishing, Video, Web Design, Graphic Arts
Voice 907-622-2320 Fax 907-622-2321
www.geistassociates.com al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com
<mailto:al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
"When the situation is absolutely hopeless, you have nothing to worry
about."
Compliments of The Monkey
Wrench Gang
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