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I've worked in one-person doc departments (like right now) and huge doc
departments. And while personal charisma can and often does establish a
more respectful working relationship BETWEEN you and the SME, my point
remains as-is: For the most part, the tech com profession is generally
NOT held in high regard by those outside the profession. And for every
anecdote about how you or you or even you overcame this problem, I or
any number of others can tell their horror stories to the contrary.
The fact remains that most-but-not-all situations start off with the
tech com professional at the disadvantage. And I don't know of other
professions that have it this way.
And my observations that no one disses lawyers, MD's and the like was
obviously misunderstood by some. To be more specific, lawyers and MD's
are respected and not dissed AT THE WORKPLACE. Tell all the jokes you
care to tell, but you wouldn't think of ignoring the company legal-eagle
when adding or modifying a safety warning for heavy equipment. To do so
could mean at the very least your exit and at the most a liability
lawsuit if the warning was published with erroneous material and a
user's injury or death resulted.
Yet programmers and equipment designers routinely circumvent or forget
to update the tech pubs person about important info that COULD affect
someone's life. So the operational documentation is wrong, so what?
Well, the author gets called in after it hits the streets, he or she
explains the latest info was all he or she had to work with and there
was no mention of updated info about to be released. Harsh feelings
abound, efforts are made (and sometimes succeed) to keep this from
happening again, but it will -- by yet another SME.
Where I work now (as a contractor), things are fine -- the firm
recognizes and appreciates the role of good documentation. In this case,
it's a company that designs and builds cement manufacturing plants
worldwide. Warnings and notes and good old accurate data is important
and recognized as such.
But even two divisions of the same company can differ like the good twin
brother and the evil twin brother. At my last job, the heavy equipment
side had a 10- or 12-person doc department and operated like my current
employer -- ethical, respectful, etc.
The "Other" division, which makes certain other industrial equipment,
maintained a doc department of 1.5 people (I was the only professional
pubs person; my so-called assistant couldn't write for a whit, but could
schmooze the fuzz off a peach). It was like working for the Mad Hatter.
It demanded a rushed documentation process where the vp pushed the
writer (yep, me) by demanding out loud over the cubicle walls within
earshot of all that I'd better get this book on his desk pronto (though
I still had little or no data from the engineers), and then he had it
spot-checked by customer service reps who were themselves were pushed
beyond their abilities. Then when a book came out and was found to be
with error (that happens in a 300-page op manual), the writer is
publicly criticized.
Two companies, two philosophies. And sometimes family dynamics, local
economics, job trends and age conditions don't allow a job change.
And it all boils down to general perception of the function and
importance of tech pubs in the product development process, along with
quirky (or some downright evil) management.
I'm glad for all of you -- the minority -- who always seem to get all
the info you need. But there are lots more of us who only wish we could
have it that way and are honestly trying to make it be so.
My opinion. So take it as that and no more.
-----Original Message-----
From: Geoff Hart [mailto:ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca]
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2006 12:18 PM
To: TECHWR-L; Poshedly, Ken
Subject: R-E-S-P-E-C-T me! (Please!)?
Ken Poshedly wondered: <<Unfortunately, Sarah's rant and many of the
subsequent follow-ups underscore once more the lack of respect our
profession receives from those outside.>>
It's worth noting that no professions is inherently deserving of
respect. Only people are, and professions that routinely produce people
who are worthy of our respect are seen as respectable professions. As
you note:
<<many, many of us have overcome this sorry state of affairs and
maintain good and proper working relationships with our subjectmatter
experts (SME's).>>
And with managers, including (in two of my previous jobs) some at the
utmost pinnacle of the organization. Much though we may wish for someone
(STC, for instance) to hire a magician to instantaneously transform the
image of our profession and to provide managers with a clue, it ain't
gonna happen. Among other things, it only takes a few bad apples to
poison the environment against us, and no profession is free of such
characters.
The unfortunate reality is that at each new job, we're likely to have to
demonstrate conclusively to our new colleagues that we're worthy of
respect. Nobody can do this for us. The fortunate reality is that if you
have reasonable people skills, this isn't particularly hard to do. You
just need to remember to make it part of your daily routine.
<<But the mere fact that newcomers or relative newbies experience this
problem shows how little consideration is given to those who explain to
the great unwashed HOW and WHY things work.>>
I'm something of a misanthrope (though I hide it well <g>), and suspect
that many people out there have been burned so often that they simply
treat all newcomers as suspect until proven otherwise.
It's our job to provide the good example that helps change these
attitudes.
<<Nobody disses attorneys, MD's and various other professionals.>>
Oh really? There are probably more nasty lawyer jokes out there than any
other kind of humor, doctors are similarly dissed all the time by
comics--and more seriously, by patients--priests are in the news for a
wide range of bad reasons, and on and on. "Management consultants"
as a class are roundly mocked, yet they can still ask for and get
kilobucks per day in consulting fees. It's human nature to generalize
from specific examples, and there are enough bad examples in any
profession that nobody is immune to criticism.
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