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To be a successful company over the long-term, the powers-that-be need to
recognize ALL contributions. Otherwise the writers, QA folks, accountants
and others simply stop contributing. Tech writing is no less important, and
no less at the heart of this IT business than engineers/developers. No
matter how bug-free the code is, if nobody knows why they should use it and
how they can use it, it doesn't amount to squat for the bottom line.
I earn the respect of my developer peers everyday--they come to me when
faced with design issues and interpreting the specs written by product
managers; they answer my questions because I don't need hand-holding; and
they know I will listen and use their input to improve the UI and the
documents.
Now, if we could earn the same paychecks and the same recognition by the
high mucky-mucks, we probably wouldn't need to vent so often.
MTC
Connie Giordano
peer-respected doco diva
-----Original Message-----
From: Edwin Skau [mailto:eddy_skau -at- mailcity -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2000 1:12 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: them engineers
Oops!!
Please ignore my reply to the list. Engineers have an attitude problem
because of how well IT has been faring in the market. They believe that they
are at the heart of this sector, and they are not very wrong.
You could earn their respect by:
1) Learning what they do, how they do it and speaking their lingo.
2) Using your vantage view of the user to help them make the application
more user-friendly.
3) Ask them for inputs, and if these do not meet your requirements, give
them a format in which these inputs can be fed back. Once they see how you
manage information, they will learn to respect your professionalism.
Respect cannot be one of the terms of employment. It has to be a personal
achievement. Remember that you must be respected as an individual first, and
then let that spill over into your profession. The next person to take up
that job will benefit from the respect you have injected into your
department. Much the same as we inherit the disdain that some of those that
went before us left behind.
