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Re: ANONYMOUS POST: Staffing with unskilled workers
Subject:Re: ANONYMOUS POST: Staffing with unskilled workers From:Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:mattgras -at- comcast -dot- net Date:Fri, 6 Jan 2012 15:08:54 -0500
I was waiting for someone to go off on my choice of words (though
honestly, I hear women use the phrase far more than men). ;-) Contend
the wording and not the message? I see your angle. ;-)
I'll rephrase, as I did in another reply: Stand up for yourself. No
one else will. It's obvious from the situation that no one else will.
If you can't stand up for yourself, there's not much we can offer in
assistance. You know what you need to say and what you need to do.
Either do it, or live with the situation.
On Fri, Jan 6, 2012 at 2:56 PM, <mattgras -at- comcast -dot- net> wrote:
> 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...)
>
> ________________________________
>
> 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: The following is being posted on behalf of a Whirler who
>> needs to remain anonymous. Please 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, I’m responsible for eleven. Three share similar interface
>> and features, but it is a lot to handle. I’ve presented data on why an
>> additional resource is necessary each year, and I’ve been rebuffed.
>> Shortly
>> before the end of 2011, I was told to hand one project to one of the Admin
>> Assistants to do since “she has a lot of downtime until the summer.” She
>> isn’t stupid, she isn’t clueless, but she can’t write. She is a novice at
>> using Word. I use Flare as the authoring tool, and it is beyond her.
>> Again,
>> I’m not saying she’s stupid, but she doesn’t get the concepts or the
>> workflow. She gave me seven topics to review, and they’re terrible. While
>> they’re spelled correctly and the mechanics such as grammar & punctuation
>> are good, the procedures are poorly written and they’re just not
>> acceptable. I can rewrite them, but that’s 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. I’ve tried to show her how
>> to write a procedure and what goes into a topic, but it just doesn’t seem
>> to work. I’ve suggested local and online courses that might help her, but
>> there’s no budget for it. This is taking up more time that I can afford to
>> devote to it.****
>>
>> ** **
>>
>> I’m trying to react to this with uh…grace and no emotion.****
>>
>> **
>>
>> What next steps would YOU take?
>>
>>
>> Anonymous
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Bill Swallow
>
> Twitter: @techcommdood
> Blog: http://techcommdood.com
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help.
> Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
> Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.
>http://www.doctohelp.com
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>
> Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public
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Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need. Try
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