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On Tue, 03 Jul 2001 22:15:01 +0200, "Lady Lurker" <lurker_lady -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
>I am a technical writer ... The programmers are great, as well as the project managers. The consultant technical writer, however, is another story.
>... I really thought what he'd written was a piece of crap. ... I still have 3 weeks left on my probation period, he's here until October, how would you suggest I deal with him? I guess I figured if he'd been doing this for 20 years, things like a peer review wouldn't make him run and cry to the boss but now I'm afraid to say anything for the next few weeks.
>
>The larger problem is the documentation IS crap and, although the company is
>happy because "it's better than nothing", after he leaves, I'm the one stuck
>with actually improving it all. ...
Dear Lady:
This has happened to me a few times. I've gotten a little better at handling this stuff, but -- there are jerks nearly everywhere, and eventually some of them get you. IME, appeasement does not work.
Often, incompetent people prefer to be left alone so they can smoke and hang with their friends and draw a paycheck. I would hope that if Consultant knows YOU are doing work that he would otherwise have to do, he will let you alone.
Unfortunately, by letting him know what you thought of his work, you unwittingly have "started up" with him. And he has already seen fit to go to management about it. So, maybe, management now knows you have high standards .)
However, Consultant may at this point feel like he must get you gone so that he can continue to smoke and hang out with his friends and draw a paycheck without annoying fears about future employment. And, sometimes incompetent people just want to destroy competent ones. You might want to read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. It's not great Writing, but it seems relevant to your situation.
Here's what I'd suggest:
1. Work on some other project for the next three weeks and complete it before your probation period is over. Be prepared for Consultant to trash your work, and you, like you've never been trashed before. So do a great job on whatever it is you choose to work on. That way, his trashing of you will seem petty and small-minded, which it will be. Make sure what you do is done in time for you to defend it, unless it is so good on its face that it does not need defending. (Sounds like just having figures with figure numbers and cross references and a nice index might do the trick.) You might want to do all your work in Framemaker so that he won't feel comfortable working with it. In fact, you might lobby to make Framemaker the standard for technical documentation, actually. You could do worse and you really do want to encourage him to be gone in October, but not openly.
2. Until October, work on other projects. Do NOT collaborate with this guy. Divvy up the work and do YOUR work on YOUR projects. Make clear to everyone you work with what YOU are working on vs. what HE is working on.
If possible, do not comment on Consultant's work, in writing or in person, ever, to anyone. If someone directly asks you about Consultant's work and you can't re-direct them to a more pleasant topic of conversation, point to one sentence you particularly dislike and say, "Perhaps it's because I am new at this, but I find sentences like this kind of confusing." Then, go on and on about how it's good for novice people like you to read documentation because experienced folks like Consultant are way too familiar with the product and take for granted the knowledge of their readers. Make sure to get way off the topic of the Consultant's work and explain how you are an asset to the company, because of your fresh eyes, not because of your unique intellectual or writing talent.
Or, maybe, "This is a great screen shot, but it's hard to find where it's described because there is no figure numbering and no cross referencing in the document. Or, maybe it's the tool he is using. FrameMaker makes numeric captioning of images and cross-referencing very easy." Then immediately rush off to a meeting you are late for.
3. Watch your back at all times. You will have to continue to do this after October, because the Consultant will have friends who remain at your company.
4. Be prepared to re-do Consultant's work, possibly from scratch, as you think necessary when he is (hopefully) gone in October. (Too bad you cannot be sure he WILL be gone in October, can you?)
My theory is, if his installation manual is circulated to actual users, and if it is as bad as you think it is (from your description of it, I'm confident that it is!) there will be feedback from actual users that it needs revision. Then, you be the one to step in and save the day. But don't do it by criticizing his work. Just redo it soup to nuts. If you get any of the facts wrong, say, "Well, I just changed the format. I stole all the facts from Consultant's version." When complete, say that you had to make most of the changes to fit in with this new FrameMaker paradigm.
5. Not meaning to make you paranoid, but sometimes just being right doesn't make your job secure. (I once had the manager of my manager take me aside to explain that the problem my manager had with my design for a software application was that it was "Too perfect." It was -- imperfected -- before it was implemented. Seriously. Sigh. Read The Fountainhead.) It is possible that you won't last after the probation period. Maybe just put some discreet feelers out and hope nothing has to come of them?
6. Meeting with this guy alone or in the presence of witnesses sounds to me like a terrible idea. I counsel avoidance. Oh, and read The Fountainhead; it's shorter than Atlas Shrugged.
BTW: I am not trying to step into the tools wars here and I do not work for Adobe PR, although I do prefer FrameMaker to Word for technical documentation.
But I've found that often the need to accommodate a new tool is a great excuse for making all kinds of radical changes. And, IMO, it is the proper tool for long technical documents.
Good luck.
--Emily
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~ Emily Berk ~
On the web at www.armadillosoft.com *** Armadillo Associates, Inc. ~
~ Project management, developer relations and ~
extremely-technical technical documentation that developers find useful.~
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