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On Wed, Jul 11, 2012 at 5:18 PM, Porrello, Leonard
<lporrello -at- illumina -dot- com>wrote:
> Documenting what you do for your own benefit is not a bad idea. From an
> ethical perspective, however, it is not as black and white as Dan suggests.
> It clearly becomes a question of professional ethics only when Kevin is
> tasked with documenting what he does. Otherwise, you need to weigh the
> opportunity cost of documenting the job (against using that time to write
> and improve documentation).
>
> It is also not a question of doing it out of gratitude for 20+ years of
> employment. Unless Kevin's employer has kept him on for charitable reasons,
> it is safe to assume that the relationship has been mutually beneficial.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:
> techwr-l-bounces+lporrello=illumina -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of
> Dan Goldstein
> Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 1:57 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: document your job?
>
> I consider it part of my professional ethics to leave clear documentation
> for those who will follow. Most of us have picked up a project where
> someone unnecessarily left us a mystery... or a mess.
>
> To be clear, I'm not just talking about predecessors and successors. Ten
> years from now, the poor schmuck who has to figure out what I was doing
> this week might well be me.
>
> Happy Wednesday!
>
> - Dan Goldstein
>
> P.S.: I try to avoid the "hit-by-a-truck" scenario. Instead, I always say
> to my colleagues whose work I document: "If you were to win the lottery
> tomorrow and move to Hawaii, what would the rest of us need to know?"
>
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