Re: Tech Writer Lawsuit

[Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>]

Tim Mantyla wrote:
> 
> The concept both of you may be inadvertently dancing near is systems theory.
> Smart workers find a way of looking at an organization, process, company or
> industry as a system, and find ways to work better and better within it. 

I agree, with a qualification, which is that when I bring my experience 
to a particular project with its bunch of professionals who do this same 
kind of project over and over, I want to be able to compute what I need 
to do as rules of thumb, heuristics, probabilities. Porting my system 
over to the workplace system implies a lot more time, effort, research, 
and analysis, and computing to get to the level of capability my own 
native system provided me. When the work is managed well, I don't need 
to port my system, I just do the work.

If I have to penetrate the system and discern some elaborate, unique, or 
detailed way of doing things before I can bring my resources to bear on 
my work, then I'm in for a bumpy ride because I'm driving a speedster, a 
vehicle designed to jet on the audubon. If I'm only there for the 
project, I'll be scanning pretty hard from the moment I get there for 
the clear path through it. I'll slow down if needed, but I'm hoping not 
to need to. I'm sure you understand the value to a tech writer of having 
support from a well-organized manager and a team that cooperates with 
the documentation effort! I want that to be standard, so I can work 
hard, do good work, and have time to see that the work is complete, 
reviewed, signed off, etc. I want a good reference, I'll work hard for 
it, and it shouldn't require me to get dirty.

I used to approach new projects in a vehicle that was the tech writing 
equivalent of a monster crawler, with all sorts of rollbars, bumpers, 
harnesses, and prang-proofing. But then at some point I started thinking 
differently about the work--even the really stupid ugly hairball 
projects started to seem like glass-smooth routine. That's what I want, 
to join the project and start reeling in the objectives. I want that 
feeling of a director--I'll call "Action" and my work will be set in 
motion. This isn't control freaking, it's just the honest payoff for 
sticking it out in this difficult trade--work eventually begins to flow 
a little better. Anyway, I expect it to. It's only fair.

> If
> they have or increase their power to redesign the systems as managers or
> influencers (using proposals, persuasion and education, for example) within
> the organization, that works to their advantage and the organization's.

You've got to be a real people person to want that. For me, the mantra 
is "See it coming and get out of the way and survive." I'm afraid I've 
gained a few neuroses from working in dysfunctional groups, before I 
subscribed to a self-interest philosophy.

> 
> People I've worked with, including me, have worked hard to do that in
> various workplaces. It's a tough road if management has a hard time seeing
> the forest for the trees—but ultimately better for the organization and the
> systems thinker/worker if they can push their ideas through to better manage
> the forest.

Treehouses, the suburban high-rise home office workplace.  I like it.


> The oxymoronic "afterthought planning" is an almost universal problem--until
> it gets better organized by system-oriented thinkers and doers. A well
> organized system of product development, one that folds in the documentation
> at the outset, is a good example of system thinking and planning that would
> largely prevent Ned's "full palette" of unsavory options to deal with the
> lack of it.

Yeah, some sky blue and sunshine colors on that palette would work just 
fine. Those other colors are from "a very dark place."
> 
> 
> An experienced worker, tech writer or other, often can see the bigger
> picture and  can work around and better within it, as a result of seeing
> things globally instead of just his/her little piece of the company
> pie.  Better
> results are likely to follow when workers think in terms of the system
> around "my job."

Ironically, I think that when the system is understood, people can focus 
on their "my job" because they know where everyone else is in relation, 
and the big picture is readily available whenever needed, without having 
the overhead of developing and storing it oneself.
> 
> 
> Does that skill make someone more "professional?" Maybe, but certainly more
> marketable. It may foster--out of sheer need to survive in a disorganized,
> at times insane world--an intelligent assertiveness through the effort to
> improve your piece of the pie. 

OMG.  Enlightened self-interest (ESI). I agree, when all the friction 
and issues have been resolved, that will still be the driver. Do you 
know the kid's game of musical chairs? Game the idea of ESI like musical 
chairs, give it a cut-throat hardcore gaming edge, and that's what the 
optimal workplace seems like. There isn't enough success to go around. 
Management wants to optimize, cut out the deadwood, cut everything 
closer to the bone, so someone is going to lose. Professionals radiate 
success, like some irresistable assertiveness. You're going to get what 
you came for, and nothing but overwhelmingly bad team preparation will 
keep you from it. That's what you're saying, right?

It helps you fit a high-quality effort into
> an impoverished series of courses that drag down the entire meal and fail to
> nourish the customer, in the end.

Pack a candy bar in your office kit. If you're in school, sue your 
teachers for defrauding you out of your tuition.

> The legal framework would benefit as well from systems thinking, as
> evidenced by the Sun lawsuit mess. If legislators took more time to study
> the intent vs. the ramifications of the laws, maybe this conflict could be
> avoided.

Don't get me started about those fiends! Aren't they all lawyers by 
training?

> "Think globally, act locally" is more than an environmental clarion call.
> It's a wake-up call and slogan every organization (and person) should adopt
> to get along better in every phase of life.

A guy in my neighborhood drives around in an old Volvo with a bumper 
sticker that says "Visualize Using Your Turn Signal"

> The US Constitution may be a good example of systems thinking applied to
> law. It is based on sound moral principles that all can benefit from, yet
> provides checks and balances to divide power among the representatives of
> government, and allow a balance of freedoms and responsibilities--ideally,
> that is.

God knows they tried. Still, even with such high ideals, some prominent 
framers were slaveholders. I think that bodes badly if you place your 
trust in the rhetoric...

> Unfortunately, systems thinking is not generally taught in schools—at least
> not schools I attended, including the much lauded University of
> Michigan---though it should be, and weighted as important as reading,
> writing and arithmetic. So people learn it along the way, through hard
> experience.

Until I was past 30 yo, school wasn't so much "Where do I fit in?" as "I 
can't wait to get out of here." As it turns out, that often is the right 
response to a poisoned system. Schools are designed to crank out good 
employees, not good independent thinkers. For many of them, you might be 
better off joining the army instead of enrolling.

>> I think your point is that compared to engineers and others, some tech >
> writers don't seem to be able to think of themselves as professionals. >
> Let's say that means they don't assert independent judgement.

This looks familiar. Separating "thinking of myself as a professional" 
from "thinking professionally" from professional values, professional 
status, professional training, etc is a hard exercise. The more I think 
about it, the more I think it is a matter of knowing what you think you 
need to get the job done, and relating it to each and every interaction 
on the job. No one gets away until they sign onto your cause. You're 
free to think of yourself as professional when the people around you see 
you that way. That may be another neurosis in bloom, but I'm going to go 
with it.

Ned Bedinger
doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com



> 
> 
>> I'd like to see how this plays out in a tough tech writing scenario. So
>> let's take one I know well, a classic situation from my history as
>> software tech writer: the project starts off without the technical
>> writer among the team members. From the fist meeting, the team is
>> drawing white board diagrams, learning the architecture and design, and
>> not documenting it--they don't have a printing white board, each person
 >> just gets their own piece of the understanding. Then the tech writer 
is >
>> called in at the end of the project, and has to catch up.
>> 
>> I gather that the Professional Tech Writer you're developing or looking >
>> for will act in a characteristic way at this point. I know what I would >
>> do, but I'm not sure I'm seeing the full palette options. Here are the >
>> choices I would see: 
> 
>> 1. Complain bitterly about being doomed from the start,
>>     update resume, work 40 hr week.
> 
>> 2. Bootstrap myself into the project as best as I
>>     can, work long hours.
> 
>> 3. Refuse to take on the work. Quit if necessary.
> 
>> 4. Curse management beneath my breath, create
>>     illusion of normalcy, spin substandard
>>     results to stakeholders as fixable in next cycle.
> 
>> 5. Trust management not to assign impossible tasks,
>>     accept eventual result as my professional standard,
>>     take blame for failure.
> 
>> If such a scenario is possible for professionals, how would a
>> degree-holder from business adminstration, marketing and accounting, or >
> an engineering program handle it? What would make a techwriter any
>> different?

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