Re: What's in a name?

[Ken Poshedly <poshedly -at- bellsouth -dot- net>]

I vote for â_________ Managerâ (fill in the blank with your choice, though I suggest âTechnical Documentationâ).

â Ken in Atlanta 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 10, 2021, at 9:38 AM, Suzette Seveny <suzette -dot- seveny -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> 
> ïCaptain... it has possibilities!
> 
> I'm fortunate that my position resides in the R&D group now, so access to
> information is getting better everyday! I'd love to have documentation
> split up between new initiatives and maintenance of current projects - do
> any companies do that?
> 
> Being involved in our user group forums (and sometimes leading them) allows
> me to be right at the forefront of requirement gathering, but it makes it
> difficult to find a suitable title.
> 
> Documentation Analyst?
> Information Specialist?
> Content Specialist?
> Technical Content Specialist?
> 
> 
> 
>> On Mon, Aug 9, 2021 at 11:02 PM Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
>> wrote:
>> 
>> "Director" is generally a position with legal implications. Tech writers
>> never get even a hint of being considered for "director-level" positions.
>> 
>> Technical writing is often a "doesn't fit" compartment of an
>> organization.
>> We get left out and on our own, required to document things that we
>> discovered just weeks or days before the intended shipment date. We are
>> provided "latest" technical details drawn directly from the documentation
>> of three years ago. It's sort of like being a ship at sea, blown about by
>> the winds, or becalmed in muddy waters through no direct fault of our
>> own.
>> I recommend the catch-all title of "Captain."
>> 
>> Yes, "Captain" has legal implications when at sea, but one can be captain
>> of a rowboat, a canoe, or a Sunfish sailing dinghy and hardly anyone will
>> complain. It is also the proper title to use for speaking to the skipper
>> aboard a Maine "windjammer" schooner cruise, even though no authority has
>> granted it.
>> 
>> To defend the use of "Captain" merely point out that "Your Holiness" (or
>> Her Holiness) seemed a bit too much.
>> 
>> On Mon, 09 Aug 2021 22:18:50 -0400, Robert Lauriston
>> <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Director of technical documentation?
>>> 
>>> High-level tech docs roles commonly spill over into other realms. I
>>> don't think that means we need ambiguous titles about "content' or
>>> "information."
>>> 
>>> On Mon, Aug 9, 2021 at 4:45 PM Suzette Seveny <suzette -dot- seveny -at- gmail -dot- com>
>> 
>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> My title (and job description) is currently being reviewed to align more
>>>> with my activities.
>>>> 
>>>> I was a Technical Writer.
>>>> Then they called me a Documentation Manager (I managed the process, and
>>>> assumed a lead role).
>>>> 
>>>> Now, in addition to "writing the online help and PDF manuals",
>>>> 
>>>> I contribute to:
>>>> 
>>>>   - Online help
>>>>   - Video tutorials (more internal at present, but growing to include
>>>>   customers)
>>>>   - API documentation
>>>>   - Knowledgebase
>>>>   - FAQs
>>>>   - User Group Sessions
>>>>   - Almost a SME in Lending and Retail Banking (I had my mortgage agent
>>>>   license)
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> I'm not the only person in my department. We also have a technical
>>>> writer
>>>> (more junior) and a UI/UX designer. But I've been here long enough
>> that
>>>> my
>>>> name is synonymous with client documentation.
>>>> 
>>>> We have 14 subsystems with 3 add on modules. The work was all originally
>>>> mine (until I had to go on stress leave lol).
>>>> 
>>>> PS - Documentation Goddess and Protector of Information was considered
>>>> too
>>>> lengthy.
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