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To the degree that you can, counteroffer. For instance:
- I cannot get you a complete manual, but I can get you x (a data sheet,
a readme file) in two weeks, if I have these resources (technical
subject matter experts) and a clear calendar.
- I can get you a complete manual with x weeks. (Maybe allow some
variations of what is included in the manual.) Again add in your
resource requirements if you are to make the commitment.
Talk to your boss, bosses or clients. Do you have allies? Ask your
allies for advice in how to handle the situation that is specific to
your organization.
You may remind people that you have been asking for info on this for a
while, but not in a whining way. If you email, read, re-read, and
re-re-read your email before sending to ensure you keep a professional
tone. Keep it to the facts. Stay dignified.
A good approach is "I'd LOVE to help you, but...."
Vent to friends and family to help yourself get those needed complaints
out BEFORE taking on your communications at work, as much as possible.
If there is any time estimating process at your work, invoke it for
yourself. It sounds like there might not be any true process there
(unlimited time means to me that there wasn't any real planning done),
but if there is, use the engineers' and developers' processes as much as
possible, adapting the artifacts and tasks to the tech writing world.
Rose A. Wilcox
Center for Process Excellence, CHQ 8th Floor
602-250-3195
Rose -dot- Wilcox -at- aps -dot- com
Here is a pen and here is a pencil, here's a typewriter, here's a
stencil, here's a list of today's appointments, and all the flies in all
the ointments, the daily woes that a man endures - take them, George,
they're yours!
Ogden Nash
"MMS <apsc.com>" made the following annotations.
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