TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: does quality matter? should it? From:"Kevin McGowan" <thatguy_80 -at- hotmail -dot- com> To:fiona -dot- krycek -at- gmail -dot- com, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Mon, 14 May 2007 13:18:37 -0400
Wow.
Fiona, good for you for sticking it out so long. I don't know if I would
have lasted that long.
Clearly, this head honcho doesn't care about the doc team...if he really
wanted quality docs, he'd invest the time and money to help the cause. For a
writer, that's a downright depressing, if not toxic, environment.
If you have any specific examples of when this low-quality documentation has
caused problems for end-users, you might have some leverage. Basically, you
have to talk to the support team, and find out what
problems/misunderstandings are caused by the docs. If there are undocumented
features, or if there are things going out without proper review, etc, you
can sort out some problem areas that can be fixed.
Then, you have to present this info to your superiors, along with a plan to
make the docs better and more useful. Maybe it's as simple as reorganizing a
guide or two...or maybe it's time to convince them to start a whole new help
system. Either way, you've got to be tough and tell them flat out that
"these are the problems and here's how we are going to fix them." have a
plan, have a timeline, and set your goals/milestones just like the dev team
would do.
Don't ask "can we please go ahead and take these initiatives?" You have to
tell them what you're going to do, and if they disagree, be willing to
justify your decisons.
If the environment is really that bad, and you can't get anywhere and are
continually frustrated...well, there are other jobs out there. Dust off your
resume and start looking. :)
Good luck!
Kevin
>From: "Fiona Krycek" <fiona -dot- krycek -at- gmail -dot- com>
>To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>Subject: does quality matter? should it?
>Date: Mon, 14 May 2007 11:12:34 -0400
>
>hi there,
>
>I'm wondering if anyone has an opinion on the following:
>
>The doc group I work in is part of our Engineering department. About a year
>ago, Engineering got a new chief who declared that our documentation was
>too
>low-quality. At the time, the doc group consisted of a documentation
>manager, two senior writers, a midlevel writer (me), and a junior writer.
>
>Our Engineering chief's strategy for fixing the situation was to lay off
>one
>of the senior writers (the rationale was "we need an engineer more"), fire
>the other senior writer, force out the documentation manager, and pressure
>the junior writer into quitting. All this left only the midlevel writer
>(me). After about two months, one of the senior writers was replaced. After
>nine more months, a third writer -- an entry-level person -- was hired.
>
>So, now we are now a group of three, and we have been reorged so that we
>report to one of the software managers. At the same time, the demands on
>the
>writing group are even greater than they used to be because of new product
>offerings and because the company is now localizing everything. We writers
>are stretched very thin, so much so that we occasionally ask engineers
>to work on documentation (and to their credit, they have done it). I feel
>like even if I put in a lot of extra hours, my work is never going to be as
>good as I want it to be because the demands are simply too great. For a
>while, I dealt with this by working 60- to 80-hour weeks, then I reverted
>to
>more normal hours and just sort of resigned myself to the fact that I'm not
>going to be producing the best work of my life. My co-workers' feeling is
>that this is all OK, since documentation is only a "frill" for most
>software
>companies, and we shouldn't be emotionally invested in what we're doing
>anyway. Both my co-workers put in 40-hour weeks and don't seem too
>concerned
>about the fact that, overall, our doc quality is going down, not up.
>
>I have been trying to adopt this point of a view, but even if I agreed that
>documentation is only a frill, this seems to be contrary to what our
>Engineering chief goes around saying. After all, poor quality was the
>reason
>our last manager was pushed out of the company (ostensibly).
>
>So, my question is, do other people think that documentation is only a
>frill? If you were (or are) working at a company that doesn't take
>documentation very seriously, should this/does this bother you? If it
>doesn't bother you, would you be bothered by the contradictory messages
>coming out of senior management (contradictory because senior management
>says documentation is important, but does not support this through hiring
>or
>planning)? Can you suggest any strategies for managing this situation?
>
>thanks in advance,
>Fiona
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
>printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
>Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
>http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
>
>Now shipping: Help & Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor,
>full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
>to 106 languages with Help & Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com
>
>---
>You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as thatguy_80 -at- hotmail -dot- com -dot-
>
>To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>or visit
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/thatguy_80%40hotmail.com
>
>
>To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>
Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more. http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
Now shipping: Help & Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor,
full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
to 106 languages with Help & Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
