Re: Horrible Situation

[Peter Neilson <neilson -at- alltel -dot- net>]

After much experience in writing, a lot of which involved
jumping into bad (but not horrible) situations and fixing
them, or maybe not, I've learned that the best approach is
to prepare a documentation plan, whether asked to or not.

The plan is a wonderful tool, because it raises the writer
above the level of slave.  In the best circumstances, your
plan will result in a correct assessment of the effort
required, and good treatment of you as part of the team.
In the worst, about all they can tell you is, "I don't
think we need you working on a plan.  I think we all
understand what the plan is already."  At that point you
can say, perhaps, "Then whatever I do will be acceptable
to you, right?"  Or you can just get the hell out because
they've tipped you off to their horrid lack of planning.

Indeed, the time you most need to prepare a plan is when you
are ordered not to write one.  It'll help you maintain
sanity as you look for your next job.

In your case, there is still time to write a documentation
plan.  It should take you no more than two days to
complete a first draft of the plan.  It should take your
boss no more than half an hour to review it.  The effort
of making a plan puts someone in control of the
documentation.  Right now no one, not even your boss or
his boss, is in control.  And the person in control will
be YOU.

Once you have the plan, follow it.  Revise it from time
to time to match circumstances.

Don't worry if you don't know how to write a doc plan.
Many techwhirlers already have a plan outline that they
can make available.  Or you can find on on the web in
less than half an hour's Googling.

On Thu, 16 Dec 2004 12:04:57 +0530, Tech Comm.... <techcommunicator -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote: