Usability study? (Take III)

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Kate Salm wondered: <<What would you do if the manager knew there was a 
problem, but was unwilling to do anything because they were tired of 
constantly having to deal with the person (basically the supervisor 
gave up in frustration..>>

I'd gently remind the manager that they have the right and the 
responsibility to inform the writer that as a condition of their 
continuing employment with the company, the writer will be required to 
cooperate with the editor. Define this as objectively as possible 
(e.g., "all editorial comments accepted or provided with a satisfactory 
rebuttal") so that it is measurable, and do so in writing, then place a 
copy of the letter in the writer's Personnel file. Insist that the 
manager serve as arbitrator if there's any disagreement.

Reader's Digest version: Every week, provide a summary letter (copied 
to Personnel) about the writer's progress towards meeting this goal. If 
the progress isn't satisfactory, send a second letter explicitly 
reporting the data you have collected, ending with a warning that the 
writer will only get two more chances to correct the problem before 
being terminated. At the end of three weeks, if the problem hasn't been 
resolved, the writer can be legitimately fired. It's only "wrongful 
dismissal" if the writer has no clear objective to meet and there's no 
track record that the problem and the consequences were clearly 
communicated to the writer. The company lawyer will tell you how to do 
this right; please note that my version is just a summary of how this 
works.

I've also been known to inform a manager in no uncertain terms that if 
the problem wasn't important enough for them to work on, then it wasn't 
important enough for me to work on. I _strongly discourage_ you from 
doing this; unless the manager is as accomodating as mine was, this is 
a sure recipe for trouble. That's not to say you can't gently hint at 
this or use it to make a point, but you have to do so with great 
delicacy so that you don't end up being the one perceived as a problem.

<<... the writer had no intention of listening to anyone but themselves 
either way>>

Must be a great place to work: Do whatever you want, secure in the 
knowledge that you can't be fired or corrected or otherwise forced to 
get an honest job. Less sarcastically, the bottom line is that anyone 
can be replaced--in the present job market, quickly--and that's 
particularly true if they're not very good at their job. It doesn't 
matter what the writer's "intention" is: what matters is why the 
company is prepared to tolerate this attitude.

Really, this is a management problem: the fact that you're willing to 
do anything to solve it speaks well for you, but in the end, managers 
are the ones paid to manage employees. If they abdicate that 
responsibility, ask them for permission to turn the problem over to the 
Personnel department for arbitration and action.

<<... and will scream at you (the editor) for even suggesting a change 
regardless of how minute it is>>

If you're serious about this ("screaming" rather than merely objecting 
strongly), file a complaint with the Personnel department. This kind of 
behavior is harassment (not necessarily "sexual" harassment, though 
that might also be true in your case), and shouldn't be tolerated.

<<And this person know tells everyone you are incapable of doing your 
job because you disagreed with them and/or didn't do things exactly 
what they wanted you to do?>>

Ditto. Also explain to them in no uncertain terms that this is libel 
(possibly slander--I'm not a lawyer), and that it stops NOW or else 
they'll be hearing from your lawyer tomorrow morning. Of course, if 
you're fighting fire with fire, prepare to receive some burns yourself.

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!

RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.