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Re: ANONYMOUS POST: Staffing with unskilled workers
Subject:Re: ANONYMOUS POST: Staffing with unskilled workers From:mattgras -at- comcast -dot- net To:Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Fri, 6 Jan 2012 19:56:11 +0000 (UTC)
Yikes!
"Grow a pair."
Really?!?
Guess it's only men -- real, ballsy men at that -- who have the strength to do the right thing.
(Not to mention having the ability to figure out -- and know with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY -- what the right thing is.)
Guess I'm just not ballsy enough...
(What a relief...)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Swallow" <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Techwr-l" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Friday, January 6, 2012 11:50:01 AM
Subject: Re: ANONYMOUS POST: Staffing with unskilled workers
This is going to be a very matter-of-fact response.
You need to grow a pair and tell your management that you cannot use
unskilled people to write documentation. You need to make it painfully
clear that it is more work to train an unskilled person to get up to
speed than it is to just do the work yourself, and you need to again
reiterate that you need a skilled writer who can come in with minimal
hand-holding to help you.
I've been around the block and in this situation many times. Would
they toss the admin assistant into the developer pool? Or hand them
massive accounts to manage to help sales out? Would they hand someone
who has never driven anything more than a bicycle the keys to their
$150k Mercedes and have them pick up their kids from day care?
Not only is this a case of "you get what you pay for" but is also a
case of inventing work where it's absolutely not needed.
Grow a pair, put your foot down (politely) and explain this to them.
You're overworked, so they give you more to do (train an unskilled
person to eventually help you out). I could see if you were doing this
during downtime or doing this with other pro writers already helping
you (been there, done it all and more), but not in this situation. You
need to get it through their heads that while you appreciate the
gesture, that it's simply hurting more than helping, and you need to
bring in someone who can immediately get to work with minimal to zero
training from you.
On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 1:25 PM, INKtopia Admin <admin -at- inktopia -dot- net> wrote:
> Moderator Note: ÂThe following is being posted on behalf of a Whirler who
> needs to remain anonymous. ÂPlease post all replies to the list and not to
> me, as replies will not be forwarded to the original poster.
>
>
>
> I have been in this job for almost eight years. I started documenting two
> products. Now, Iâm responsible for eleven. Three share similar interface
> and features, but it is a lot to handle. Iâve presented data on why an
> additional resource is necessary each year, and Iâve been rebuffed. Shortly
> before the end of 2011, I was told to hand one project to one of the Admin
> Assistants to do since âshe has a lot of downtime until the summer.â She
> isnât stupid, she isnât clueless, but she canât write. She is a novice at
> using Word. I use Flare as the authoring tool, and it is beyond her. Again,
> Iâm not saying sheâs stupid, but she doesnât get the concepts or the
> workflow. She gave me seven topics to review, and theyâre terrible. ÂWhile
> theyâre spelled correctly and the mechanics such as grammar & punctuation
> are good, the procedures are poorly written and theyâre just not
> acceptable. ÂI can rewrite them, but thatâs not the point. When I brought
> up the writing problems and the time involved, my manager said that I need
> to help her come up to speed and work with her. Iâve tried to show her how
> to write a procedure and what goes into a topic, but it just doesnât seem
> to work. Iâve suggested local and online courses that might help her, but
> thereâs no budget for it. This is taking up more time that I can afford to
> devote to it.****
>
> ** **
>
> Iâm trying to react to this with uhâgrace and no emotion.****
>
> **
>
> What next steps would YOU take?
>
>
> Anonymous
>
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