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Subject:RE: Top Ten Things You'd Like To Tell Engineers From:"Bob Colwell" <bob -dot- colwell -at- comcast -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 9 Aug 2004 09:28:51 -0700
Sankara: I'm an engineer, and I can tell you that demanding *anything*
of a design engineer isn't going to work. The list of demands they
already have is so long that if they want to put you off, the best
way is to gleefully add you to the end of their list, knowing they'll
never get down that far.
Lawyers and validation folks have the same problem tech writers do, in
terms of respect. As with many other closed universes (medical doctors
come to mind) design engineers have a peculiar lingo. And unlike MD's,
the DE's invented the stuff they're discussing, so the made-up words
they're using as though they're part of standard English makes perfect
sense to them, but is an impenetrable barrier to anyone else.
We could have an intelligent discussion about to what extent this is
actually true, but DE's think it is: they sincerely believe they are
the wellspring of their company. They perceive themselves to be at the
center of the action, and that delays in their output directly result
in delays to the product, and damage to the company. So they generally
work very hard, and tend not to suffer (what they perceive as) useless
overhead gladly.
Don't project that image. You and I know they're not doing you a
favor when they give you the info you need to do your job, it's part
of THEIR job to do that, but some of them will know this and others
may not. So do your homework, make a glossary of the acronyms and
made-up words they're using, and keep asking what they mean until
you've got a map of the terrain. DE's will respect your efforts to
minimize your impact on their workloads.
If you really want to go above and beyond, consider going the extra
mile. Cultivate good working relationships wherever you can -- what
you get from a DE who smiles when she sees you come in, vs. what you
get from someone who barks "NOW WHAT?" is night and day. If someone
really tries to get you what you need, bake them some chocolate chip
cookies. You'd be surprised at what seemingly well-paid DE's will do
for free food. :-)
-BobC
Shouldn't there be a mechanism in place, a
mandate from the project management, that
facilitates the flow of inputs to doc teams? We
as communicators may not take recourse to quoting
these bye-laws, we use our wits; however, when
all else fails, shouldn't we have the option to
escalate matters and demand information that is
our bread and butter?
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