RE: Was Scope of Agreement or Letter of Intent-Now unemployed.

["Sean Wheller" <swheller -at- bigpond -dot- net -dot- au>]

Some thoughts below, though there is no point crying over spilt milk. At
least you identify that you are a wiser and stronger person for the
experience.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: bounce-techwr-l-117674 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
> [mailto:bounce-techwr-l-117674 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of
> sclarke -at- nucleus -dot- com
> Sent: Sunday, January 12, 2003 4:13 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: Was Scope of Agreement or Letter of Intent-Now unemployed.
>
> It actually got worse after that-believe it or not. I (stupidly) offered
> to go in-as a professional courtesy-to effect an orderly transfer of files
> and show them where everything was because they didn't know.

Never, return to the scene of the crime without formal request. Let them pay
you to return and help them fix their problem, besides it's your time and
that costs. When you have a purchase order and specification stating what
you are there to do, then you may enter. It's not your fault they did not
have a protocol in place for document management, control and change, change
management.

>He (my former
> boss) showed up as I was taking some personal files off of the computer
> and became absolutely obnoxious& demanded to know "what" I was taking and
> commented that "they" had done me a favor by "allowing" me to come in. It
> just pretty much went downhill from there.  He even started riffling
> through my brief case to make sure I wasn't "stealing" any hard copies of
> their documents

This is an infringement on your personal privacy and he had no right to
search any part of you or your belongings. I think you have grounds to sue,
under deformation of character, trespass and invasion of privacy.

> although my contract stipulated that I'm allowed to keep
> one copy of each document for archival purposes. It also said I was
> supposed to retain them for 7 years. Bozo (my boss) stated he and his boss
> didn't "agree" with this interpretation and forbid me to take them.

References to your being able to retain a copy, will be seen as good will
gesture. Not a right. It is hard to argue in court.

In addition, if the contract stated that all produce developed by you was
the property of the company, then you will not be covered by copyright law.
You essentially wavered that right when you signed a contract. However, if
it did not, then you are covered. Therefore, you are entitled to the source
files and any produce/profit created there from. They may be liable to pay
you royalty on the distribution. A breach of copyright on their part will
most certainly be in your favor, in a court that is. If you want to settle,
you may request that all you want is a soft and hardcopy of the documents.
You may get nasty and ask for more. In return they will be granted rights to
use the product for their initial purpose. Any transfer or application of
the product will require your written consent and you may or may not charge
for the royalty. The later being at your discretion.

On all these cases it just depends how hard headed you want to be. Some
rules I have learnt over the years, may be of value to you in the future:
1. No contract is agreed without legal counsel.
2. Contract is contract and don't sway from it to be nice. That goes for
both sides.
3. Anything gray, like "may be delegated to perform other tasks from
time-to-time..." are a NO, NO.
4. Any changes shall be grounds for renegotiation of the price.
5. Delayed payment on installments is legally recognized as "credit-theft".
DO NOT TOLLERATE IT. Charge interest on funds delayed. This must be clearly
stipulated in your contract and invoices.
6. If payment is not resolved, stop work. Submit a new bill for time worked
to date. Mail it, registered, to your lawyer and let him deal with it. Do
not return until everything is ok with your lawyer. They may bitch, but they
will not take you lightly in the future and you will surely get payments
on-time. When you return, review and renegotiate your contract in context of
the new situation.
7. All work created by yourself, remains your property until such time as
all payments have been made in full.
8. The source materials are your property and not included in the product
delivered. If they want the sources, they will have to compensate you for an
agreed amount.
9. Whenever possible use your own equipment for development. The machine,
software and data on it are yours not theirs. Use your own backup systems
and do not copy all sources to a single location on the network.
10. Do everything in writing. Do not accept promises or spoken requests. YOU
WANT IT ON RECORD, NOT ON TRUST. If something needs changing, BCC your
lawyer.
11. The golden rule of all. If you are obligated to keep a deadline, then so
are they. Extensions to a deadline can cost you money and by default
constitute a change in your contract. Ensure that this is taken into
consideration. YOU CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR DEADLINE DELAYS THAT ARE
OUT OF YOUR CONTROL. By the same token, when everything is kosher on their
side, make certain you are also kosher.

I think that there are more, but to save space, just know this. The world
has changed and Technical Writers must change with it. Sometimes we tend to
use a little much of our creative side. This side is not business like and
we get burnt because of it. It is business, nothing personal. Conduct
yourself professionally, not only in your work but also on issues of
contracts, billing etc.

Sean Wheller
swheller -at- bigpond -dot- net -dot- au
XWriter


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A new book on Single Sourcing has been released by William Andrew
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