Re:

[arroxaneullman -at- aol -dot- com]

 Unfortunately taking sections of the manuals to the SMEs falls into that category of "Tech Writers exist merely to annoy me." They're not even good at reviewing the materials they have to read. 

I used to put out a monthly New/Updated Docs Report until they complained about the unnecessary emails.

A no-win situation, so far as I can tell.

Arroxane


 


 

-----Original Message-----
From: Combs, Richard <richard -dot- combs -at- Polycom -dot- com>
To: arroxaneullman -at- aol -dot- com; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Sent: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 3:11 pm
Subject: RE: 










arroxaneullman -at- aol -dot- com wrote: 
 
> How do you let
> your coworkers know you're not sitting around twidding your thumbs?

By delivering things. ;-)

Here's one idea: Instead of letting them wonder for 3 months what you're
up to and then giving them the completed manual to review, ask people to
review small chunks as you go. 

Here's another idea: If you're documenting software, find bugs and enter
them into the bug tracking system. Or enter enhancement requests
(well-thought-out, of course). For non-software products, do something
analogous. The idea is to show that you've been working with, learning,
and thinking analytically about the product. 

I'm sure there are plenty of others. The idea is to create visible
artifacts of your efforts. Nothing persuades people you're productive so
much as producing things. :-)

Richard


Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
------
rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-777-0436
------








 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and 
publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical 
authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.