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Hello-I've been lurking on this list for several months now and when
this topic came up, I just had to jump in.
Favorite lie:
1. On Monday: We need it by Friday (after doing a little digging, you
discover that they've known about this project for 6 weeks, but are only
getting around to telling you now. More digging reveals that they can
really wait until next week).
And this isn't really a lie, but how many of you have worked with
extremely bright engineers who assume everyone else has their level of
knowledge? They tell you to 'feel free to ask questions', but when you
question their functional spec or any other documentation, you get this
response that all our customers understand this stuff, so why are *you*
asking about it? After all, no one has ever complained before! And we
wonder why there's so much lousy documentation out there.
Biggest mistake: Assuming that your end users have the same level of
knowledge that you do!
Elizabeth Klisiewicz
Principal Technical Writer
Control Technology Corp.
