RE: Technical Writing, QA, and Training

[Mark -dot- Eichelberger -at- Aftech -dot- Fiserv -dot- com]

Hi everyone.  I was out of the office yesterday, and I am finally able to
respond to the many responses to my posting.  First of all, thanks to all
who responded.  Second, I should provide a little more information.

>From the original posting:
<<<One of the many factors in the souring of the relationship was the
Director of Training and Installation's desire for the Technical Writers to
periodically take on additional roles of trainers if the need arose.  Since
2 out of the 3 Tech Writers in the department have training backgrounds, the
Director felt they were a resource that could be used by the training staff.
Both the Technical Writers and the Manager of Training have strongly
resisted this. Of course, now that Manager of Training has resigned, the
technical writers fear that the Director will hire a manager more in line
with his philosophy and the result is that we will be forced to take on
training assignments.>>>

I should have stated why we are strongly resistant to this.  First of all,
the tech writers all perform
 internal training on documented enhancements to products.  This training
coincides with the distribution of the enhanced software to both internal
and external clients.  In addition, we are willing to help the training
staff in preparation of training materials, presentation materials or to
actually train subjects in which we have a level of expertise.  However,
during the last year, our company has gone from 1 annual release of new
software to 3.  This has dramatically shortened the deadlines for
documentation preparation while increasing the need for documentation
updates.  In other words, more work in less time.  

At the same time, the Director of Training and Installation has embarked on
a aggressive expansion of training classes offered for internal and external
clients.  In short, the current schedule calls for 2 to 3 seminars per
month.  Many of these seminars are 2 day seminars.  Couple this with the
fact that the Training department currently has 1 part time employee and a
manager (a working manager expected to train) and there are no plans to hire
more staff.  The Director wants the technical writers to begin training
seminars that can not be handled by the training staff.  2 out of 3 of the
tech writers have training experience and know that it takes between 1-2
days to prepare for a 2 day seminar.  Our fear is that training will take
precedence over the technical writing and that our documentation will suffer
as a result.  That, in a nutshell, is why we have been resistant to taking
on additional training assignments.

Thanks again for the responses.

Mark Eichelberger
Technical Writer
AFTECH
Mark -dot- Eichelberger -at- Aftech -dot- Fiserv -dot- com
610 993 8000 x534


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