FW: Project Management Skills and Tech Writing.

["Delaney, Misti" <ncr02!ncr02!mdelaney -at- UCS01 -dot- ATTMAIL -dot- COM>]

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From: Price, Becca
To: Delaney, Misti
Subject: RE: Project Management Skills and Tech Writing.
Date: Tuesday, September 19, 1995 4:44PM

he may just have been in a co. where people used GANTTs and PERTs as an
excuse to not work - other co's, other excuses (here it's meetings - but I
didn't say that!).  I've used GANTTs effectively to show people *why* they
can't add half a dozen new requirements and have us still meet deadline - I
used it as a tool to prove to an overly optimistic boss that there was no
way in hell that we could get from where we were to where we needed to be in
the time allowed (next time I saw that particular chart, it was attatched to
a memo from him to *his* boss - no crediting to me, either - as the sole
rationale why we needed more time, $$ and people.  we got the time.  I
suppose that means we got the $$.  We never did get the project done - but
that's another story).

I use GANTTs to help schedule, and to figure out when we can get around to
these enhancements, and stuff.  PERTs I never did have much use for, but
then in a doc project the path is usually pretty clear anyway.  (I know I'm
gonna get flamed for that crack! <g> and probabally rightly so, too.)

 -becca
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From: Delaney, Misti
To: Price, Becca
Subject: FW: Project Management Skills and Tech Writing.
Date: Tuesday, September 19, 1995 3:22PM


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From: TECHWR-L
To: internet!VM1.ucc.okstate.edu!TECHWR-L (Multiple recipients of list
TECHWR-L)
Subject: Re: Project Management Skills and Tech Writing.
Date: Tuesday, September 19, 1995 10:09AM

Gwen Barnes said:

>So ... I don't wanna see no GANTTs, or PERTs or critical paths or any of
>that stuff, I had enough of that in college and my boss breaks out in a
>rash whenever I bring it up.

I agree. Maybe it's just me, maybe I just never had the right understanding,
but the last time I had to deal with those was about six year ago when I did
a short stint as an industrial engineer. It seemed like those around me (who
had been in their positions for quite some time) were spending all day
preparing nifty charts to -study- the problem, but no actual time making
action decisions or solving the problems.

If the building's on fire, I don't need a PERT to tell me that I need to
call the fire department.

Maybe I was with a group of people that were abusing the system, or maybe I
just didn't get the big picture. But I really had very little use for those
types of tools.

Rick Lippincott
Boston Technology
Wakefield, MA
rjl -at- bostech -dot- com