Re: Justifying a Separate Existence

Subject: Re: Justifying a Separate Existence
From: Vince Putman <PUTMV -at- MAIL -dot- SYNTRON -dot- COM>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 1995 14:30:50 CST

George,

All empire building managers think like yours. Yup, it happened to me
and one other writer. We were pulled out of offices located near the
project teams we get all our information from. The net effect on our
end users is the loss of information in our S/W Documentation. We
are now out of sight - out of mind, and we never overhear any info
leads anymore. (What does the other writer and I have to discuss?)
The resultant loss of document content is management's responsibility,
but you will be blamed.

These actions remind me of the boss who gave a writer pen and paper,
then stood behind and said "OK, you have everything you need, now
write!!!" "I need this technical manual in a month"

Lack of info is a terminal disease for quality documents brought on by
ignorant managers!


Vince Putman | Most people think new ideas are just
putmv -at- mail -dot- syntron -dot- com | a criticism of the old!!! 713-647-7139
Houston, TX | Eschew Gratuitous Obfuscation

BTW, the ratio of developers to documenters is about 8:1, normal from
what I have seen.

__________________________ Reply Separator ________________________

Subject: Justifying a Separate Existence Author:
george -dot- hayhoe -at- SRS -dot- GOV at INTERNET_MAIL Date: 2/22/95 7:01 AM


My small software documentation team (which is currently part of the
software development organization) is about to be consolidated into
the company publications organization unless I can help my boss
persuade his boss otherwise.

I'd appreciate answers to the following questions from anyone on the
list who does software documentation. (Please respond directly to me
at the address below, not to the list.)

1. Where in the company is your team located (for example, in the
software development group, marketing group, company publications
group, etc.)?

2. What is the ratio of developers to documenters?

3. If your group has been consolidated, have there been any negative
effects on end users? any positive effects on end users?

Thanks for your help. I'll let you know what happens.

--George Hayhoe (george -dot- hayhoe -at- srs -dot- gov)
Westinghouse Savannah River Company


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