Re: Writers job description/definition

[SB <sylvia -dot- braunstein -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Well, what Gene says is true in many ways but not for the reasons he thinks.
Until now, Management did not really appreciate the efforts involved
in technical writing but they are starting to have another perspective about
it. Until now, they have made it impossible to hire while the company is
growing at exponential rates and doing very well.
I knew the freelancer from a previous job and thought he was very
professional and was hoping he could help me with the work load.

However, while the company is growing in every other department, the
Management was hoping to cut the cost of the freelancer and have someone
in-house instead, just because of the financial issue. When things started
to become more and more difficult, I realized that maybe an in-house might
have more ownership and told my boss that they were right and that this is
what we needed to do.

The management did not clearly put me in charge of the freelancer. My
Manager just sent the freelancer back to me when the freelancer wanted to
discuss something with him and told me to deal with him.

What they are trying to do now is to actually help me hire an additional
writer (or they can do it and believe me, I would be happy if someone else
was taking over the responsibility and supervision. To me, it is yet another
headache that just adds up to my immense workload.)

I did say the magic words: "it's time to terminate this contractor and get a
replacement". My boss wants to be cautious and wants to make sure that I
will not be left with all the load so he wants to hire and then we will
slowly cut him off or  keep him on staff for occasional jobs.


On 2/26/08, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Running away is not going to help her.  She's been doing that
> for months anyway.
>
> As for "no backing from management," her management
> allowed her to select the freelancer.  Her management
> put her in charge of the freelancer.  Her management
> suggested to her that it might be time to cut the freelancer
> and replace him with someone else.  Her management
> has totally empowered her with the authority to manage
> the contractor's deliverables and deadlines and make
> the decision to terminate him, and the only reason the
> situation still persists is that she has failed to say the
> magic words. "it's time to terminate this contractor and
> get a replacement." The only "backing" her management
> could provide that they haven't is to step in and fire the guy
> themselves, hire another writer and supervise both her and
> the replacement writer directly without giving her any more
> lead responsibilities.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ken Poshedly" <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net>
>
>
>
> > 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!
>
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printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007 
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
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True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
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