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Cayenne Woods reports that: <<Mainly I got that it's fairly standard to
attach some sort of guidelines to send to people who are reviewing
documentation.>>
Agreed, but with one caveat: Standard this may be, but effective it often is
not. I've found over the years that attached guidelines usually get glanced
at then ignored, either because "I know how to do reviews, so don't insult
my intelligence by telling me how" or "it's not part of the manual they sent
me to review, so I'll ignore it and hope it goes away". One thing I always
advocate--and periodically have to remind myself to do--is to actually talk
to the reviewers and explain what I want done. This takes a bit longer, but
the payback is almost always worthwhile. I say "almost" because a few of my
reviewers really did prefer written instructions: different strokes for
different folks.
<<I think there's a big difference between a writer and a secretary, and I'm
not sure some people here really get that.>>
Yup, and it's an ongoing problem; one researcher I worked with had no
respect for me whatsoever until he discovered I'd won a scholarship in our
mutual field of research. But for most people, personal contact helps erode
that perception: once they begin seeing you as a person, and begin
discussing issues with you often enough to see that you have a mind and that
you know what you're doing, they'll start treating you as a person with a
mind. Secretaries commonly fall into the same trap because they become part
of the office furniture rather than someone who can talk to you knowledgably
and thus be seen as a person.
<<About respect and this forum - I'd find it more useful if we could all
assume each other has a clue, and start from there. Just a thought.>>
Ah, but having a clue isn't the same as knowing you have a clue, as Holmes
periodically chastises Watson: [paraphrase] "You observe, Watson, but you do
not see!" <g> Still, a modicum less "get a clue" would certainly improve the
level of discourse around here.
"Tarzan's rule of data processing: Never let go of one vine until you have a
solid hold of the next."--Anon.
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