TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Was newbie contractor question Scope of Agreement/Letter of Intent
Subject:Was newbie contractor question Scope of Agreement/Letter of Intent From:sclarke -at- nucleus -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 3 Jan 2003 14:46:58 -0700
Hello everyone:
My thanks to all who chose to respond to my question. I really got some
good advice and it's much appreciated. I guess the responses were diverse
but the themes were common. I'll try to summarize.
It sounds as if most folks have had some experience with changing project
expectations-- which one individual dubbed the "moving target" syndrome.
Personally I liked that. Most of you who responded seemed to expect that
some variations/changes in project timelines and goals were to be
expected. I agree this is natural.
Someone suggested that it would be difficult to get a "leopard to change
its spots" and that following each verbal dirrective I should email that
individual with cc's to all who will be affected by the changes in
implementation. I really liked that idea because this is definitely a
situation where the right hand and the left hand are very disconnected. I
could see this being effective. Also someone suggested that it may be a
good idea to confirm the verbal directive in a follow up email and explain
the impact of the verbal directive on the overall scope of the project.
They further suggested that this could be done by pointing out how much
more time it will take or how much more money it would cost etc. Again, a
very useful suggestion I think. I think this could be quite effective in
my situation.
Another person suggested that it might be time to move onto greener
pastures. I dearly would love to do, exactly, just that. In a moment of
temporarity insanity, however, I very very foolishly agreed to the short
contract extension and they have it in writing in electronic format. As
far as I understand...I'm now obligated to follow through. My lawyer, at
least, takes the position that I'm committed and can't renege.
Thanks very much again.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A new book on Single Sourcing has been released by William Andrew
Publishing: _Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation_
is now available at: http://www.williamandrew.com/titles/1491.html.
Order RoboHelp X3 today and receive a $100 mail in rebate and a FREE
WebHelp Merge Module for merging multiple Help systems on any desktop
or server. Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.