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There has been somewhat of an apples-and-oranges quality to this thread
so far, I think.
The model Dori has propounded has to do with the cost of not having a
particular document, but I don't think that answers the question of what
the writer is worth to the company. There are probably situations where
it is important for the company to have a full-time regular employee on
hand to respond to federal audits. Aside from that case, though, the
value of a document to the company doesn't have any direct relationship
to the question of employee productivity or performance. The needed
documents can be produced by salaried employees, by on-site contract
employees, or by independent consultants. The financial types are going
to ask which is the least costly way to produce a document that meets
the company's quality requirements.
They are also going to ask--I've said this before but it bears
repeating--whether the distribution of headcount in the company, by
department, falls within industry guidelines. You will often hear senior
managers muttering about headcount and you will see them making what
appear to be boneheaded decisions (laying off employees and hiring them
back as consultants or whatever). But there is a logic to this for
companies that are publicly held or wish to become publicly held. If the
test they're looking at says development has to have seventeen fewer
employees, then guess what. Seventeen people are going to be laid off
and the ones the manager really likes are going to get contracts. Too
bad about the others. Tech writers are often grouped with "others" in
that situation.
What I'm getting at is that "I created this deliverable that saved the
company half a million dollars" is not necessarily a winning argument.
"I created it for less than you would have paid to outsource it" stands
a better chance. "I'm the only one here who knows how the whole product
fits together" might have some value if the manager knows it's true;
otherwise, don't count on it.
Okay, now I'm just rambling. I thought, though, that it might be helpful
to look at the question from this angle.
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