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It's a pretty fine line, isn't it? I DO *take notes* (lots of them) at
design meetings, but if asked to circulate them, I write it up as a design
plan, NOT minutes, no matter what I am asked to do. That usually either
gains me more responsibility or involvement because the programmer/manager
who leads the project LIKES what I did, or it stops the secretarial requests
because I have stepped on a programmer's toes.
What I react to is not the taking of notes, but the assumption on the part
of a professional that another professional is at a meeting MERELY to
requrgitate what happened. I think everyone should take their own notes to
retain information they need for their jobs. I happen to need most of what
gets decided at such meeting, if not all, and I don't mind sharing that info
-- but the form in which I share it WILL be appropriate to my profession and
to my aims/goals of exposing technology to the user's benefit.
Lest anyone think I am putting down secretaries, I am not. I think they have
a great deal of training in areas I do not: for instance, I cannot hope to
capture a meeting verbatim -- I don't know short hand and think it is
incredible what a well-trained person can do! They are also professionals
who, in my experience, CHOSE their field for strong reasons, and they
deserve respect for what they do as well!
tamara -dot- peters -at- lawson -dot- com
----------
From: TECHWR-L
To: Multiple recipients of list TECHWR-L
Subject: Taking notes (was TW Classifications)
Date: Friday, 21 April, 1995 8:00AM
A couple people have expressed (rather vehemently) an aversion to "taking
notes." I thought that was interesting, as the way I managed to wiggle my
way
into the development group on my first job eleven years ago was by
volunteering
to take notes at their design meetings. It quickly became apparent that I
was
contributing more, as I reorganized the information and tried to fill in
holes
by going back to participants individually, before coming up with the
printed
version. In other words, taking notes _earned_ me respect, rather than took
it
away. I guess I'll have to admit that times have changed, and I could be
considered a battle-scarred veteran in this profession!
Karla McMaster, technical writer
CTI PET Systems, Inc., Knoxville, TN
mcmaster -at- cti-pet -dot- com
