R-E-S-P-E-C-T me! (Please!) -- Was RE: Gnaargh! Or, I Am Not Psychic

["Poshedly, Ken" <PoshedlyK -at- polysius -dot- com>]

Unfortunately, Sarah's rant and many of the subsequent follow-ups
underscore once more the lack of respect our profession receives from
those outside.

Yeah, yeah - many, many of us have overcome this sorry state of affairs
and maintain good and proper working relationships with our
subjectmatter experts (SME's).

But the mere fact that newcomers or relative newbies experience this
problem shows how little consideration is given to those who explain to
the great unwashed HOW and WHY things work.

We're considered "glorified secretaries" by some (yep, I've actually
heard that one), unskilled labor by others, and pretty much an
afterthought by those who themselves practically DEMAND a genuflection
upon entering their office or cubicle.

Nobody disses attorneys, MD's and various other professionals. So what
should WE do? Wear a uniform? What should it consist of? (I mean, "Of
what should it consist?"). Probably a THICK, THICK outer material that
repels criticism and sarcastic jabs, but still presents a pleasing,
attractive appearance.

Let's face it, it is and will always be an uphill battle - really an
occupational hazard - to be treated so negligently.

The answer, everyone's on their own. 

Those who have been able to attain and hold onto truly professional
working relationships will breathe purer air and hopefully throw tips
and tricks to those of us still down in the mineshafts trying to get up
and out.

-- Kenpo
(In Atlanta, on a crappy, drizzly Wednesday)



 

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+poshedlyk=polysius -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+poshedlyk=polysius -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
Behalf Of Sarah Bouchier
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 11:13 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Gnaargh! Or, I Am Not Psychic

This will, I suspect, be a familiar rant to most of you.

I've just discovered that, shortly after both I and the client went
through and checked my company's user manual and online help against the
product, the development team made some major changes to the UI without
telling the doc team.

Normally I'd have picked this up through the paranoiac (though
justified, I feel!) checking I do anytime I have a few minutes spare,
but what with it being the last few days before the release deadline I
was working ten hour lunchless days as it was, and I +really+ didn't
have the spare time to go through the entire product to see if anything
had changed.

Unfortunately, there's scarcely a process here, never mind one that
includes the technical authors.  The closest thing is the bug tracking
system, but apparently most of those changes didn't go through it (and
even if they had, I've yet to train the developers to assign bugs to
documentation after fixing).

What is the best process you've ever worked with (or dreamed of) that
enables technical authors to find out about changes/new projects etc
before the very last minute is past?

The prize for the best answer is me doing my damnedest to implement it
here :)

S.

-----------------------------------------
Sarah Bouchier
Technical Author 

exony
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