Where Are Techwriters Located in the Organization?

[George Hayhoe <george -dot- hayhoe -at- SRS -dot- GOV>]

     Robbie Rupel presented a fascinating summary of responses to his
     question posted a week or so ago. There's a third possibility, though,
     to the options of locating writers on project teams or placing them in
     separate writing organizations, and that is to blend the two. (Sorry I
     didn't respond to your original posting, Robbie, but the past few
     weeks have been wild.)

     I currently lead a team of technical communicators (three
     writer/editors, an illustrator, and a requirements analyst) within the
     software development organization at Savannah River Site. We're paid
     on the same scale as the software engineers, and we have worked hard
     to earn the respect and regard of our colleagues. We are assigned to
     "vertical" (relatively short time span, project-specific) development
     teams (I assign the communicators to projects based on availability,
     skill mix, etc.), but we have also maintained cohesiveness as a
     "horizontal" (continuing, skill-specific) tech comm team.

     Of course, all good things end, and by the end of April, our team will
     be dissolved. We're all taking voluntary separation incentives, in
     part to avoid being consolidated into a company-wide tech comm
     organization!

     --George Hayhoe (george -dot- hayhoe -at- srs -dot- gov)
       Assistant to the President for Recognition Programs, STC