RE: Interesting Article... fewest jobs lost in Tech Writing

["Nutting, John" <JNutting -at- taylor-hobson -dot- com>]

Goober wrote:
"Now, I know we can argue the long-term benefits of
documentation, and its value TO training and help
desk, but in the end, a handful of people banging away
at printed pages or online help is seen as overhead
for some reason or another."

In my experience this is half of the problem, the other half is that when
you fail to meet a deadline you are like the turkey sitting on the wall
waiting for the bullet to hit home.  In previous employment I worked for a
manager who believed that 75% complete documentation was better than not
delivering providing the 75% was correct.  A product launch date was set and
the documentation had to be available, no excuses.  The tech writers who
missed the deadline because the document wasn't quite finished or not quite
formatted right or the pagination was off or the document didn't feel right
set themselves up for the drop kick out the door.  And lo and behold when
the time came they went.  In an ideal world we would get the time to get it
right, to make the document sing and dance and give the client a 'perfect'
product, but the world isn't ideal and we all have deadlines and if we don't
meet them then Goober's words become very significant when lay off time
arrives.

John



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