Re: Troublesome Writers

[Jo Francis Byrd <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com>]

Andrew,

Why did you allow this woman to stay as long as she did? People who refuse to be
team players, refuse to follow instructions, have a "my way or the highway"
attitude, and reject edits are not people you want working for or with you. They
are not professional, no matter what their occupation. They are a royal pain in the
you-know-where, they jeopardize your relationships with your clients, and they
breed discontent within your company.

I admit I have a low tolerance level (as in NO tolerance level) for people who
refuse to be team players, refuse to follow instructions. I have dealt with those
people and they are impossible and frustrating. I consider team playing, being a
good team player, critical. One job I had, I was part of a team. We needed a
standard template for our documents. I designed it - then sat while the rest
obsessed over the most trivial parts of it. There was a lot in the final template I
didn't like (including the font), but I was there on contract, I didn't "live"
there. This was what they wanted, so that's what I used. I didn't change anything
unless there was a good, VALID reason. I was a member of the team and abided by the
rules.

Another time I created a useless help system. The manager knew exactly what he
wanted: screen shots of every screen, ever dialog in the application included in
the online help. I tried incorporating them in popups, but no, he wanted them in
the body of the text so the user "wouldn't have to drill down to another level."
Some topics you had to press the Page Down button nine or ten times to get to the
end of the topic. I tried to explain that users bailed out if they had to scroll
more than twice, to no avail. I gave him what he wanted. He didn't ask me to do
anything illegal or unethical, just stupid.

We're talkin' Golden Rule here: the client gots the gold, the client makes the
rules. Dealing with people like the writer you describe means conflicts with the
other people in your company, conflicts with clients, jeopardizing the relationship
with said clients.

To answer your question as how to deal with such people? Explain the Golden Rule to
them. They must conform, or give VALID reasons for not conforming. They have to be
team players....or they're outta there. Simple as that.

Just be sure to do your CYA when you can them!

Jo Byrd

Andrew Plato wrote:

> Okay, lets try a new topic. How to handle troublesome writers.
>
> Yesterday I was thinking about this writer who worked at our firm a few years
> back and what a pain she was. No matter what I asked her to do, she always went
> off and did something else. She was always fighting with me over every little
> sentence. It was a never-ending struggle to edit her documents.
>
> She finally left the company and things got back to normal. But I never felt like
> I really dealt with that very well.
>
> So, what do you think? How do you deal with a writer who just won't frickin' get
> on the program. Who fights over edits, ignores direct orders, writes documents
> that are not needed or wanted, uses tools that aren't appropriate.
>
> I am a little torn on this because I am a big "responsibility, accountability,
> and authority" person. I expect people to get the job done and I don't really
> care how they get it done. If the end product is quality - who cares what tools
> or methods are used. But, when that person then becomes snide about any criticism
> to their work. It sometimes seems that too much freedom can be a bad thing.
> Free-agent types think they have all the answers and aren't willing to listen to
> authority.


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