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Subject:Re: How to appease a consultant? ::long:: From:Christine -dot- Anameier -at- seagate -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 5 Jul 2001 16:44:45 -0500
Before we all went offline and grilled burgers the other day, "Lady Lurker"
wrote:
>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...
I agree with some of the advice other posters have offered: make a clear
separation between his work and yours, and make sure yours is very good.
When mentioning his work, always give him credit for it: "So-and-so's
Application X help file." (On the other hand, I would not rely on the
phrase "MY help file" because it sounds weirdly territorial. Your work
would be "the Application Y help file" or "the Application Y help file I've
been working on"...)
Personally, I wouldn't go the slightly self-deprecating route Emily Berk
describes ("Perhaps it's because I am new at this, but I find sentences
like this kind of confusing"). If Consultant is lording it over you about
his twenty years of experience, and presumably pointing it out to others as
well, you don't want to reinforce this idea that you're a novice. Talking
about novice USERS, however, seems like a good strategy ("new users are
likely to be confused by this sentence because . . . ").
As for being stuck with improving his work... look on the bright side:
it'll keep you busy for a good long while, and improving/rewriting it will
be a much more satisfying and pleasant task when he's no longer there to
undermine you.
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