Re: YOU are responsible, even when YOU are not to blame

Subject: Re: YOU are responsible, even when YOU are not to blame
From: Gene Kim-Eng <gene -at- genek -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 2003 12:37:18 -0700


This is actually a very significant difference, because depending on the organization
and the way it's managed, "responsibility" for accuracy can range from ferreting out
information firsthand by carrying out midnight raids on developers' notes to flagging
management about a breakdown in an established development or verification process.
As a manager, one of my biggest headaches has often been employees who don't
elevate such breakdowns to my attention until a situation has developed into a crisis,
with all the CYA fingerpointing that often accompanies. In a well-managed process
(and I have lived in some) when a writer says something as simple as "I need input
on/a review of..." in a project meeting and the person who's chairing that meeting
replies with "Who can take care of that...?" someone on the team almost always
responds with a commit, because the alternative is an uncomfortable silence with a
manager standing at the head of the table; eventually, the developers who do respond
will get tired of watching those who don't sit silently by; in most cases unhelpful people
aren't just being unhelpful to tech writers. Direct headbashing by managers is, as
Jenny says, often counterproductive and shouldn't be necessary if "management"
makes teamwork a priority.

Gene Kim-Eng



At 06:42 AM 4/8/2003 -0700, Andrew Plato wrote:

You'd be right about one thing. I should have said "inaccuracies are 100% the
direct *responsibility* of the authors and editors and 99% of the time it is
because the authors don't understand the material.



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References:
Re: YOU are responsible, even when YOU are not to blame: From: Andrew Plato

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