RE: The non-learning organization?

["Morton, Christopher" <CMorton -at- caiso -dot- com>]

"Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream..."

"What...me worry?"

> Chris' thoughts to live by

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+cmorton=caiso -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+cmorton=caiso -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Joe Malin
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 10:24 AM
To: Rebecca Stevenson; TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: The non-learning organization?

Short answer: don't panic, don't worry, be happy...

With luck, you eventually get a manager who has the written and
unwritten authority to turn it around. Don't waste a lot of time,
energy, and heartbreak trying to *change* it yourself. On the other
hand, do *point it out* objectively whenever you get the chance.

Sometimes a change like this is necessary. Given the alternative of
shipping the wrong product, or jumping through hoops to ship the right
one, which would you choose?

I have worked in both hardware and software companies. Hardware
companies *have* to stick to a schedule, or face not shipping anything
at the end of the quarter. For that reason, hardware
scheduling/management/control is a very detailed and sometimes
inpenetrable art. 

Software is much less so. The thinking is that you can fix a bug the day
before a product ships, if you need to. While this may not be *true*,
that's the *thinking*. I know that this attitude towards schedules has
driven tech writers crazy for years, and I've been on both sides of it.

What works best for me is to relax about the whole thing. From the
beginning, let go of your need for absolute perfection. Instead, produce
stuff fast, review it often, and don't obsess about minor mistakes.
Software has bugs, and documentation will have bugs as well. It's the
nature and the effect of those bugs that we have to worry about.

Joe


Joe Malin
Technical Writer
(408)625-1623
jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com 
www.tuvox.com
The views expressed in this document are those of the sender, and do not
necessarily reflect those of TuVox, Inc.	

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+jmalin=tuvox -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jmalin=tuvox -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Rebecca Stevenson
Sent: Friday, January 13, 2006 4:58 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: The non-learning organization?

How do you cope when you see your organization making very, very, basic
errors? 

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