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RE: gaining control of a dysfunctional environment?
Subject:RE: gaining control of a dysfunctional environment? From:"Diana Ost" <Diana -dot- Ost -at- msmcorp -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 15 Jun 2006 09:12:39 -0400
Hi:
So sorry to hear that things are so difficult :-(
I think I worked there, and left after a year :-) It sounds so familiar!
The first warning bell is "I report to DEV." I hope to never report to a
development manager again--it has never worked out well for me. On the
other hand, reporting to QA or a documentation group has been fine, as
well as training, marketing, or customer support, or a compliance group.
They all seem to "get it."
You haven't done anything wrong. But, how likely is it that the
situation will ever change as long as you report to the person you
report to now? Probably not very.
You know what insanity is? Doing the same thing over and over and
expecting different results. That's usually what I think of when I have
that DUH! Moment )(slaps forehead). Time to go......
Diana Ost
Technical Writer/Reporting Analyst
Production Administration
Market Street Mortgage Corporation
diana -dot- ost -at- msmcorp -dot- com
Phone (727) 431-7209
Fax (727) 724-9096
2650 McCormick Drive, Suite 200
Clearwater, Florida 33759
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-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+diana -dot- ost=msmcorp -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
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Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 5:14 PM
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Subject: Fwd: gaining control of a dysfunctional environment?
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Contact Lisa lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com with questions.
I'm hoping for some advice on how to address a systemic problem at work.
I am the only tech writer in a small company, where the people are
generally well intentioned (and less political than in previous work
experiences). However, their work processes are nonexistent and they
cause themselves innumerable problems on a regular basis. I realize I
should probably seek new employment, but I'd like to give it my best
effort before giving up.
The company's s/w dev process---and each group's responsibilities in
that process---are poorly understood/identified. The overall project
management for our s/w products is generally terrible (in spite of our
having separate BA and PM functions). Lastly, regarding documentation,
you won't be surprised to hear it's tough for me to do my job,
particularly with any amount of quality. The whole function is
misunderstood here, and despite my efforts and the quality of my work
(which many people have responded positively to), I've been unable to
establish a basic documentation process.
To explain the dynamics briefly, I report to the DEV manager.
Although a good guy, his comments/actions reflect he thinks TW is simply
a desktop publishing task---DEV will give me info and I am to make it
presentable for clients. His personality is to manage based on how
things (should) work, unless someone can convince him otherwise (but he
can't understand 'analytical' personalities at all, which I am). When
out of his element, he seems to rely on instinct. I often step up and
pose the necessary questions, etc., but he keeps telling me 'it's not
your job to manage documentation,' resolve issues, etc.
But of course, no one is. My boss's personality utterly baffles me (the
opposite of what I think of as scientific and logical). Although he's
not unintelligent.
***My question is: people on techwr-l occasionally mention they use
their role to impose structure and processes in their companies, so they
can do their job. How exactly? What's the secret? What am I doing
wrong?***
(Sigh) . . . Feeling useless and tired
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