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Re: Docs for profit? (Being recognized as the experts.)
Subject:Re: Docs for profit? (Being recognized as the experts.) From:Elna Tymes <etymes -at- lts -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 22 May 2001 10:29:52 -0700
> John Lumsden wonders: <<A couple of project managers with large egos are
> demanding that I publish a couple of sets of documentation the way THEY want
> it rather than the way my staff and I think it should be published. No
> amount of
> reasoning/logic/argument has changed their minds. Since "He who pays the
> piper gets to call the tune", I have little choice but to cave in to their
> demands. The results will be documentation that, in certain places, is not
> done in accordance with good technical writing practices.>>
and Geoff Hart replied in part:
> If logic and sweet reason haven't persuaded them,
> sometimes you really need to go over their heads and get a more senior
> manager to read them the riot act and act as your advocate; that's very
> effective indeed, but be aware that doing so is a major political faux pas
> that can cause you all sorts of grief down the road.
Probably the best way out of this situation is to put the project managers'
names on the docs, as if they were the authors. If you can get away with it,
that is. You can justify doing so by pointing out that what these folks are
asking is not company standard, and that they'll get the credit for changing the
standard. What you DON'T tell them, of course, is that when customers start to
object, the calls will come to these managers.
However as Geoff pointed out, disagreeing with these folks will have long-term
consequences, and it's up to you to decide just how you want to play that one.
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