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Subject:RE: Asking for opinions about this job From:"Sarah Stegall" <siliconwriter -at- comcast -dot- net> To:"'TECHWR-L'" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 11 Jan 2006 13:19:16 -0800
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+siliconwriter=comcast -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+siliconwriter=comcast -dot- net -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Me Too
Sent: Wednesday, January 11, 2006 10:55 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Asking for opinions about this job
My superiors
have told me that every document I send out, including
the first drafts, have to be as close to perfect as
they can possibly be made.
I think this sentence is the heart of your problem.
Get them to define "perfect". Does that mean final-draft quality formatting
on your first drafts, or just that you ran it past a spell checker before
you sent it out. I would frame this as a growth opportunity:
"Our company is growing and evolving, so our document management strategies
must evolve as well. I propose the following quality standards to ensure
that all our users' needs--internal and external--are efficiently met.
1. First drafts will be spell checked but no formatting will be applied.
Reviews will focus on technical accuracy, not style.
2. Final drafts will adhere to previously establish company styles, ....
Blah blah. You know what your company needs. If you work for engineers, make
sure your presentation contains as many hard numbers as possible; engineers
respect hard data.
You actually have the whip hand here. After all, if they don't have you,
they have to write all the documentation themselves, no? Or go to the bother
of hiring another tech writer (and having candidates laugh in their faces
when the job is described to them). I would present my quality standards to
the bosses, implement the kind of wall charting that David and others have
proposed, and STICK TO IT. If your bosses complain, persist politely in your
assertions that they can have speed OR quality, but not both. If they insist
on 'quality', then MANY PROJECTS ARE GOING TO BE LEFT BY THE ROADSIDE. And
again, when people dump new projects on you, let them know what your
schedule is and that it may be six months before you can get around to it.
Believe me, when enough project managers complain to your boss about YOUR
overload, your boss will do something about it.
Best of luck, friend.
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