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Subject:New Employee Problems with Management From:Carolyn Grismore <carolyng -at- CARECOMPUTER -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 7 Oct 1997 07:30:42 +0000
This is a bad situation, and without management support it won't
improve. I worked for a company who had an employee who was a
self-styled expert on documentation. My original contact with the
company came when I was asked to evaluate their manual and suggest
how they could be better. My suggestion was to burn them, or
perforate them and put them on rolls.
This so-called manual was printed double column on some pages, single
on others, and sometimes three. It had different type faces in
different sections. Was printed single sided in areas, double sided
in others. The writing was all but incomprehensible and I counted
over 100 spelling errors in 30 pages. Eventually I agreed to work
for them, and with a team of writers we managed to turn 170 badly
written garbage into a 1500 page technical manual, then convert it
all to online help so our field techs could take it on a CD into the
field without getting a hernia.
To make a long story short, despite the man's obvious incompetence in
all areas, for some reason the company brass loved him. Eventually
they proposed to make him the publications manager. When that
decision was made, there were eight writers including him. His
department six weeks later was one writer. Him. He doesn't seem to
be able to find replacements.
I wish you the best of luck solving your problem, but in the meantime
I would be scoping out your local market and getting your resume in
shape.
Carolyn Grismore
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