RE: Credit where credit is due??

["John Rosberg" <jrosberg -at- interwoven -dot- com>]

I agree with Mr Margulis entirely -- there is much to consider in this
scenario, and you should definitely make certain that you and or your
team gets the credit due them.

I've seen this sort of behavior in almost all the places I've worked --
at one time, I chalked it up entirely to the short-sightedness, and,
perhaps, mean-spirited nature of the manager (director, VP, Big Person
on Campus).

After a while, though, I came to the conclusion that our profession
owned much of the responsibility for this type of oversight (note that I
am not implying that this is true in Mr Hearn's case, of course). 

Given the number of folks in Tech Writing that consistently display what
could be called a Rodney Dangerfield approach to their careers and our
profession, the fact that they are not viewed as bringing as much value
to the party isn't surprising. If you say "I don't get no respect" often
enough, it eventually comes true.

You should, I think, speak to the manager that seemingly overlooked your
contribution to the project, and determine what took place from their
point of view.

Longer term, owning your portion of the project, treating your
deliverables as important pieces of the product, communicating your
commitments and keeping them can go a long way towards elevating the way
you are viewed by colleagues and managers.

End of MY rant {smile}

-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Margulis [mailto:margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 08, 2006 11:40 AM
To: Ron Hearn
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Credit where credit is due??

Ron Hearn wrote:
> Don't you hate when management sends out an email acknowledging
everyone
> who put in a lot of effort on a project to achieve a goal and there is
> no mention of the person who wrote the manuals? Sigh
> End of rant

Well, it should be the end of the _rant_; but that doesn't mean it 
should be the end of your concern. There is no good excuse for a manager

to do that, and you should ask, the next time you run into the email 
writer at the coffee machine, if perhaps his omitting your name was an 
oversight.

Try to get a read on the situation. In many organizations, project 
wrap-up memos like that carry weight with upper management--positive 
weight for the people who got the kudos and negative weight for those 
who did not. If your boss left your name out inadvertently, he or she 
will probably volunteer to correct the oversight with a memo up the 
chain, and copied to you (less embarrassing than sending a new memo to 
the whole company). If your boss makes it clear that it wasn't an 
oversight but that your work is not valued, you might want to start 
quietly politicking for a transfer to someone else's group or start 
thinking about looking elsewhere for employment.


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