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Basically, SB, you need to RUN AWAY, RUN FAR AWAY from this hell-hole.
You have the wrong person under your supervision -- of which you
really have none; you get no backing from management; you get no
cooperation from the "freelancer"; the work load is piling up higher
and higher; etc.
Having been in that sitution myself and refusing to cave in, all it
did to me was give me high blood pressure and SUPER stress -- neither
of which are acceptable and usually stay with you in one form or
another from there on out.
So RUN AWAY, GET THE HECK OUT!
-- Ken in Atlanta
At 06:06 AM 2/26/2008, SB wrote:
>My feedback embedded.
>
>On 2/26/08, Caroline Tabach <caroline -dot- tabach -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> >
> > Take a step back and try to explain the big picture to us.
> > You are the permanent writer,
>
>
>[SB] I am the permanent writer. I don't have a title but my boss made it
>clear that I was in charge of dealing with the freelancer.
>
>Are you also the other person's boss, do you manage them?
>
>
>[SB] I am not his boss, he is his own boss. He is a freelancer. He will not
>touch any document before starting reformatting it to his taste.
>
>Who gives out work?
>
>
>[SB] Until now, I have given him work. Now, some people have started giving
>him work independently and it makes it very difficult to know what he is
>working on. I stopped that right away.
>
>Is each person responsible for their own projects or are you also
> > responsible for his?
>
>
>[SB] I am responsible for the whole documentation.
>
>Who hired him?
>
>
>[SB] I hired him with the management's approval after a major struggle to
>convince them that I needed help. I do need more help indeed but it would be
>nice if he would start by doing what he is supposed to do first. For
>example, it does not matter how much work there is, he will not start
>working on a document before he reformats the document to his taste.
>
>and who approves the bills that he sends in?
>
>
>[SB] Until about a month ago, I was signing the bills. Now my boss does.
>They are quite upset at the size of the salary and feel that we could hire
>two Technical Writers for that amount. As a freelancer, he does not take so
>much actually but at the end of the month and of course with the long hours,
>it adds up.
>
>The bills should include only the projects that your company approves
> > him doing, so why is someone agreeing to pay for wasted hours.
>
>
>[SB] It is hard to track what he is doing. This is what he is declaring.
>Define wasted hours. To him nothing is wasted and everything is vital.
>
>Sometimes it is hard to tell the person not to work on these extra
> > things, is there someone else in the company who can explain that he
> > will not be paid for doing unnecessary work?
>
>
>[SB] Well, we were under so much pressure that I once told him that I didn't
>want him to continue developing the template because it was listed every
>month on his bill. He did develop a lot of "fancy" things but he set up the
>template to his taste. I have not approved it and will not approve it as is.
>He will have to do some more work on it. He is very stubborn and very
>argumentative about everything and absolutely nothing is easy with him. I
>struggled for a long time to keep him on board but I feel that I can't
>handle it anymore.
>
>Somewhere up there you should have a boss, who is presumably the
> > person who hired him and the person with the power to hire someone
> > else instead of him.
>
>
>[SB] My boss wanted me to do that a long time ago. I was afraid that I would
>need to train someone else and I was afraid that they would not know the
>tools, which would make things even more complicated. I have so much to do
>that I am afraid that it will be even worse. I mean, there is no doubt about
>the fact that we are understaffed and that we can't produce high standard
>documentation at this rate and I have been trying to get things to improve.
>However, it still does not justify that when you know you have a very urgent
>project, you first need to reformat everything, which in itself takes a
>substantial amount of time (and there is nothing wrong with the original
>formatting), then focus on the warnings instead of the contents, and more.
>
>You should make time to have a meeting and present to them why working
> > with this person is wasting the company's money and in what way this
> > is damaging the company, preventing you form meeting targets etc.
>
>
>[SB] I have told my boss that it is very difficult form me to be able to
>rely on him. Before that, I spoke with him numerous times to try to
>cooperate. He always has all these excuses: it was only half an hour, it is
>not our responsibility to make sure the document is accurate, etc. And he
>does not even get the hard part.
>
>Try to make a list of all the problems you have with this person and
> > at some point you will have to say, it is either him or me!
>
>
>[SB] True, but I can't do that until I have somebody else that knows the
>job. I think my boss agrees that this is what needs to be done.
>
>This is not the first string of emails you have written on this
> > subject and it is not clear why you are letting this problem continue.
>
>
>[SB] True.
>
>The only solution is to talk with management, explain you have
> > consulted with technical writing colleagues who agree that this person
> > is not working as he should.
> > Not only that, if you do have management, they should be able to see
> > that having 2 writers who do not manage to work well together is not a
> > good situation.
> > Then, be involved in the hiring process of the next writer.
> > Search the archives here for the large number of threads on the
> > subject of how to hire a technical writer.
>
>
>[SB] Thanks Caroline. I really appreciate your feedback. I will definitely
>start searching for another technical writer.
>
>On 2/25/08, SB <sylvia -dot- braunstein -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> > > Well, I don't think that he views this as reduced contribution.
> > > He is focused on doing things right. Of course, there is no end to how
> > right
> > > you can do things. So, he formats and formats and formats his heart's
> > > contents. And he proofreads again and again. Of course this is very nice
> > but
> > > he never meets the deadlines. I don't have the time to proofread what I
> > do,
> > > partially because most of what he does not do falls back on me.
> > >
> > > Please forgive me for pouring out my frustration here in so many details
> > and
> > > sorry for venting; I have just been steaming inside and trying to take
> > as
> > > much as I could on myself but I realize that he has to be a lone
> > technical
> > > writer, he has to be able to tell the "others" about the
> > professionalism,
> > > and he has to be able to do things just the way he wants to do them. I
> > am
> > > really ready to let go but can't right now.
> > >
> > > --
> > Caroline Tabach
> > Technical Writer
> > e-mail: caroline -dot- tabach -at- gmail -dot- com
> >
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