RE: Best laid plans of mice

["Cardimon, Craig" <ccardimon -at- M-S-G -dot- com>]

You might be asked to produce something no one wants and no one will
use.

I was asked to create this documentation by the top guy, but the staff
didn't want it and didn't use it.

Maybe they should have. That company no longer exists.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Leonard C. Porrello [mailto:Leonard -dot- Porrello -at- SoleraTec -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 11:33 AM
> To: gordon -dot- mclean -at- ciboodle -dot- com; Cardimon, Craig; Technical Writing
> Subject: RE: Best laid plans of mice
> 
> I enjoyed Craig's message.
> 
> The point was that, when you've been laid off, there's probably little
> use in killing yourself to ensure that every "t" is crossed and every
> "i" is dotted--as it is just as likely as not that most or all of what
> you do will be ignored, forgotten, or lost.
> 
> Now Gordon, was that so hard to infer? I don't think so.
> 
> My $.02: if what you are doing is critical to the company, you
wouldn't
> be laid off before whatever it is you are working on is finished. That
> you have been laid off indicates that a decision maker in management
> considers your projects unnecessary and expendable. This means that a
> protracted attempt to finish everything on your plate is probably for
> naught.
> 
> In short, you should do only what you need to to ensure that you leave
> on good terms. It seems to me that any attempt to do more than that is
> just the result of the denial or bargaining phase of the grieving
> process that one experiences after any considerable loss. And when it
> comes to losing a job, the sooner you can get to closure the better.
> 
> Tech writing is _ultimately_ a business, not an art form, not a badge
of
> personal honor, not life's raison d'etre, and the decisions you make
> need to be informed accordingly. There is no virtue in creating a
> product that no one needs or wants.
> 
> Leonard
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+leonard -dot- porrello=soleratec -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
> om] On Behalf Of Gordon McLean
> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 7:48 AM
> To: 'Cardimon, Craig'; 'Technical Writing'
> Subject: RE: Best laid plans of mice
> 
> Fascinating.
> 
> Is there a point or was this just a random pondering?
> 
> *DELETE*
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=ciboodle -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=ciboodle -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com]
> On
> Behalf Of Cardimon, Craig
> Sent: 02 December 2008 14:39
> To: Technical Writing
> Subject: Best laid plans of mice
> 
> Once when I l left a place for which I was maintained their databases,
I
> wrote procedures for all the things I did. I was working as a
programmer
> at
> the time.
> 
> 
> 
> I put my notes into a nice binder, showed it to everyone in
operations,
> went
> through it with someone, and left it in plain sight.
> 
> 
> 
> Sometime later I discovered the binder got kicked under some furniture
> and
> forgotten. My notes were never used. How about that?
> 
> 
> 
> I actually went back to work at that same company years later at
another
> location and found my old binder in a box of old papers. I retrieved
it
> and
> kept it. I still have it.
> 
> 
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
> Version: 8.0.176 / Virus Database: 270.9.12/1824 - Release Date:
12/2/2008
> 9:31 AM
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