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I'm so glad we are talking about this topic because lately I have been disillusioned about my technical writing career and technical writing as a profession even though I love it.
I also get the "make it pretty" comments, as if I am only a document formatter.
I have also been told by a business analyst who wrote a quick and dirty version of the software instructions that "the document is already written, all you have to do is format it."
Jill Gallagher
-------- Original message --------
From: Sharon Metzger <sharon -dot- metzger -at- gmail -dot- com>
Date: 9/2/16 8:56 AM (GMT-07:00)
To: 'tammyvb' <tammyvb -at- spectrumwritingllc -dot- com>, 'Peter Neilson' <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Friday question: What's your favourite manager comment?
Wait -- "Write to the way it is supposed to work and we will fix it later" isn't part of the job description?
I got the "make it pretty" line just yesterday... At least there's no objection if I "make it accurate and useful" at the same time...
Sharon
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sharon -dot- metzger=gmail -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sharon -dot- metzger=gmail -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of tammyvb
Sent: Friday, September 2, 2016 11:29 AM
To: Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Friday question: What's your favourite manager comment?
Don't worry about the accuracy. Just clean it up and make it look pretty.
Or
Write to the way it is supposed to work and we will fix it later.
Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE smartphone
-------- Original message --------
From: Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
Date: 9/2/16 9:08 AM (GMT-07:00)
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Friday question: What's your favourite manager comment?
Well, there's always, "Don't worry about the missing information. We'll see that you get it eventually."
It's that phrase "Don't worry." I think we are paid to worry, and thus we should worry. You would think I might have learned back when it happened before, elsewhere ...
"Yes, I know that (writer X) who reports to you isn't working out, but don't worry, I'll take care of it."
In retrospect he should have said, "I want to see your plan for this situation by tomorrow morning."
Ultimately (days or weeks later) the manager assembled a team of three writers to do the work X had not done.
On Fri, 02 Sep 2016 10:21:43 -0400, Charlotte Branth Claussen <charlotteclaussen -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have more often than not reported to people with no knowledge of my
> field. This has given rise to some interesting comments. Examples are:
>
> Shouldn't we move to a more modern format, such as PDF?
> You don't need to know anything about XML!
> Your problem is that you want to understand what you're writing about!
>
> What is your favourite manager comment?
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Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com
Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com
Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives
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Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com
