Re: Personal Quality Standards

[Garret Romaine <GRomaine -at- MSMAIL -dot- RADISYS -dot- COM>]

'tgr' mailed the following letter bomb:

<Brent Jones is making an irrational conclusion by saying that Anna would
<have no personal standards if she doesn't bend over backwards to produce
<the best possible manual even though she isn't being paid for it. This is
<an absolutist and moralistic position. She made a mistake about how much
<time it would take to do a first-rate job with the manual. Live and learn.
<She shouldn't now have to eat her mistake and spend endless unpaid hours
<just to prove to God and the king that she has high standards.


<SNIP>

<Moralists be damned.

 -----
Whoa!

I sure didn't read Brent's discussion that way. If Anna made a mistake, she
can certainly try to talk to her client, but it may come across as more of a
shakedown than negotiations. When I get an estimate for repairs to my car or
tv, and then the mechanic comes to me and tells me its going to cost more
because he made a big mistake, we go talk to a manager next. Anna's
predicament isn't going to endear her to the client if she just wants more
money.

The bottom line for me is that Anna made the mistake, so she can either eat
crow and try to renegotiate, at the risk of damaging her reputation, or she
can work hard to get the manual where it was supposed to be and eat the
hours. I'm not sure why, but I can see which direction I'd motate towards --
hard work, less feathers in the mouth. Besides, she isn't going to be very
motivated to do better analysis next time if she can wiggle out of it
painlessly on this go-round. Worse, what kind of reputation do all technical
writers get when a low bid gets jacked up like this? Same as auto mechanics?

Garret Romaine
gromaine -at- radisys -dot- com