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Re: Technical Writing and the Business Perspective
Subject:Re: Technical Writing and the Business Perspective From:"Mike O." <obie1121 -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 24 Oct 2003 12:31:32 -0400
Goober wrote:
> It's not about happy customers, cutting-edge process
> and technology, or anything else but profit.
No... in a sufficiently large company behavior is governed by intense issues
of sociology and psychology that override any rational profit motive. I
don't accept the assumption that day-to-day tactical decisions, like how to
manage documentation, are made with business and profit motive fully in
mind.
Jane Goodall could offer more insight than Adam Smith about why corporate
managers make the decisions they do. Middle managers are far removed from
decisions that affect profit or loss (at least, that's what they say when
put under oath :-)
> No matter how cool your ideas are, or how much
> sense they make to you, they may not fit into the
> business side of things, or you may not know the
> proper way to communicate your ideas because the
> people you are communicating with are coming from a
> different perspective.
That is just another expression of cultural relativism, i.e. "Everybody's
ideas are equally valid - they just come from a different perspective."
Nonsense - one viewpoint is better than the other; but there just isn't a
fair arena for the ideas to compete. And there probably shouldn't be,
either - it's a corporation, not a debating society.
Actually that is an oversimplification. Aspects of each view point are
probably superior to certain aspects of the other viewpoint, and vice versa.
But the culture does not provide a process for hashing out and synthesizing
competing viewpoints.
I was going to say "well, it's a military culture, what did you expect?" But
then I remembered that even the military has a process for incorporating
ideas from the ranks. Maybe someone who has served can elaborate on this?
That said though, over the years I have learned to withhold my brilliant
suggestions for improving business until I have really thought it through.
Usually I end up changing my mind.
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