TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Grace Abenhaim reports that she and her colleague (both writers) are <<...
supervised under the Hardware manager... I think I should be under R&D?>>
Ideally, you should be under the manager whose product you're documenting.
That way, you're clearly part of their team, and you and your developer
colleagues have the same boss so there are fewer "office politics" to worry
about. This also potentially opens the lines of communication more easily.
But where you sit on the organization chart is less important than having
easy access to the developers and having managers who recognize the need for
this access and support your efforts.
<<since our last version, we are not included in any design, R&D or other
meetings anymore to let us know what changes are to be done to the
documentation.>>
First thing you need to do is find out why this changed. If there isn't a
particularly good reason (often, you simply get forgotten), ask to be put
back on the development meetings. Ask repeatedly (but politely) until you
either succeed or are told to shut up and go away. If that happens, then you
need to go to the developers directly to get your information.
<<I have already told my manager that we should be included. He took it as a
mental note and that was the end of it.>>
Follow up! Ask what happened, remind him of the importance (to the
organization!!!) of being included in these meetings, then ask again to be
invited to the meetings. If you eventually get told to piss off, then opt
for plan B: contact the developers directly, but outside the meetings.
<<how can we both get information when we're never included in anything
anymore?>>
The answer to this question is always the same: If the information isn't
being provided, go get it yourself. Stay in ongoing communication with the
developers so you know when new versions will be released, then talk to them
often enough (without being a pest) that you'll know what is coming and what
it means for your work.
<<We are in a release yet both my colleauge and I havent gotten any work for
the past month. Any ideas why this is? Do we have to "run" to developers to
get information? is this normal?>>
You haven't gotten any work because in the rush to meet the release
deadline, everyone has forgotten that you exist: developing the product is
their only priority. This is quite normal, particularly if you don't spend
enough time reminding your colleagues that you exist and that you need to
work with them. Cultivate those relationships so next time you won't be
forgotten. There's tons of information in the techwr-l archives on this
topic.
Unfortunately, you're now 1 month behind on your documentation efforts, and
you need to get back in touch with the developers ***immediately*** so you
can find out what they've been changing or adding or deleting. Use that
knowledge to start bringing the existing documentation into line with the
current state of the product. If you don't do that, the product will reach
its release date and the documentation will be completely outdated. You
really don't want to have to explain why this happened: you can be 100%
correct ("nobody told us anything") and still come out looking very bad
indeed.
--Geoff Hart, geoff-h@ mtl.feric.ca
(try ghart@ videotron.ca if you get no response)
Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
580 boul. St-Jean
Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
"Wisdom is one of the few things that look bigger the further away it
is."--Terry Pratchett
RoboHelp for FrameMaker is a NEW online publishing tool for FrameMaker that
lets you easily single-source content to online Help, intranet, and Web.
The interface is designed for FrameMaker users, so there is little or no
learning curve and no macro language required! Call 800-718-4407 for
competitive pricing or download a trial at: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l4
---
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.
