Re: Responsibility

[Andrew Plato <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

"Darren Barefoot" wrote

> What you're talking about here is butt coverage. And I ain't talking
> about capri pants.

CYA is without a doubt the most detrimental and least productive thing any
human can do at their job. If you work in a place that is all CYA, then I
deeply pity you. I personally refuse to play the CYA game. Its lame. 

> When I send out a document to development for review
> (and I endeavour to ensure there's time in the development schedule for
> reviewing docs), I include a disclaimer, which reads something like
> this:
> 
> Please review the following document for technical accuracy and send
> your comments to us by <date x>. If you cannot review this document by
> <date x>, please notify us as soon as possible. If we don't hear from
> you by <date x>, the document will be assumed to be 100% accurate as is.

Good Lord, that is a horrible disclaimer. Where did you ever get the idea that
silence was synonymous with acceptance? 

Based on that kind of thinking, I can post a message to TECHWR-L saying "you
will all be receiving a bill from me for $5000. Failure to respond to my
message in 10 days will assume you want to pay me $5000." I am sure that would
go over well. 

Silence should NEVER be assumed to mean all is hunky dory. If developers are
not communicating with the writer its usually an indication that:

1. They are busy

2. They are unavailable

3. Your work is so bad, they don't have the heart to tell you that. 

4. Documentation is simply not seen as a priority (see #3).

Silence should NEVER be assumed to mean acceptance. 

> This tends to emphasize to reviewers whose court the responsibility ball
> sits in. Cheers. DB.

The writer should already KNOW if the information is accurate. The developers
should merely be confirming accuracy and completeness (and communicating their
acceptance). 

Andrew Plato 

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