Re: Convincing management of the value of documentation?

[Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

I wouldn't give up on a growing company like this unless my #1 goal was
getting promoted.  My goal at this point would not, however, be to try to
convince the CEO of my definition of document value.  Instead I would seek
out everyone who reports to this person and determine what their
definitions of value are with regard to documents, then work on making
myself valuable to them.  The production manager has already approached
you, so next talk to people in sales and marketing, customer service,
quality, etc.  This approach may still not get you promoted, but at least
if things get tough and the CEO starts looking for people to RIF you can
try to maximize the number people who will say, "let's not cut Keith,"
which is a non-trivial benefit.

If this is growing company is small and you are the sole writer, your best
path to a promotion is probably to be everyone's "go to" person for
documents until the time comes to hire more writers.

Gene Kim-Eng



On Mon, Mar 19, 2012 at 8:30 PM, Keith Purtell <
keithpurtell -at- keithpurtell -dot- com> wrote:

> The production manager and CEO agree about 85% of the time, so there's
> hope the PM will back me up. Even more hope if I try some of the excellent
> suggestions offered here. Most involve talking to the CEO in terms of
> dollars and cents. I think we can all agree that's a universal language
> with upper managers. I understand the people suggesting I just move on
> (cheeky Peter included), but I was lucky to find this job after only a
> month of searching in a bad economy. This company is growing rapidly, and
> there is significant opportunity for anyone who plays their cards right.
> Not ready to give up until I see how the top man responds to an objective
> financial analysis of my worth. I'll let you know what happens. Thanks
> again.

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