RE: rounding up my straying projects

["Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com>]

Hi Kim,

> The second project was a combined User manual, policy and procedure
manual, and >training guide. I completed it on time and it came in at around
300 pages. I
>handed it to the SMEs about 2 months ago for review. (That is the way they
>wanted to review it--as a whole) and then they  have told me that they are
too
>busy to review it. So that project is on  hold. I've nudged them a couple
of
>times, asked if there was anything they  would like me to do with the
project,
>but I've been blown off.

Klingon Technical Writer Quote for the Day: Not returning my review copies
by the agreed deadline is a declaration of war. Indeed, it is a good day to
die.

Seriously, there's not a lot you *can* do with this one, except e-mail them
at regular intervals, copying their manager and yours, inquiring whether
they will have time to review it soon or if they can tell you when they'll
have time to review it, or asking if the project has now been discontinued
since you haven't heard back from them in so long, or offering to set up a
review meeting (with doughnuts) at a date/time that suits them. (Vary your
queries, so your managers don't get too bored.)

>The third project, well, how do I start. . . (It is so bad it deserves its
>own paragraph :)) It was started because a small, but difficult, department
>needed a way to track their call center calls. Our programmers wanted to
try
>to build a project in Java. Three project managers later I have an unusable
>program. I told the project manager that I could not document it because it
>didn't work. (Honest!! It just didn't work. It crashed, buttons didn't
work,
>I couldn't leave the first screen, I got lost in 4 (yes, 4) layers of
pop-up
>boxes.) <snip bit about Chief Programmer> They'll get in touch when they
are
>ready for documenation  again.

Nothing. Ball's in their court. Hang on to your copy of the project (which
you can show to anyone who claims you had a working copy), document that you
asked the project manager about it and that he told you *they'd* get in
touch when they were ready. Sit back and enjoy reading Dilbert in the
original Klingon.

Your other option, if you have time on your hands while waiting for your
wildchild projects to come in for their tea, is to document *how* bad the
other project is: and, if you have the technical ability, to offer proposals
for fixes. (There's a free online Java tutorial at the Sun website,
http:\\java.sun.com\books\tutorial, if the problem is that you're running
out of things to do.) If the basic setup is hopeless, go back to the
original requirements and see if you can propose a new way of doing it. If
the problem is with the GUI, describe your idea of the ideal GUI for the
project. Then get on to the Project Manager and tell him you've got a few
ideas about this project that you'd like to share with him.

Warning: this last option can cause much friction. Use the best butter.

Jane Carnall
"Go not to the technical writers for counsel, for they will tell you to
RTFM."



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