Marketing vs Development (was RE: Certification)

[bphuettner -at- WSICORP -dot- COM]

     For the past three years, I have reported to the Product Marketing
     group, which in turn reports to the V.P. of Sales and Marketing.  I
     started as the first Technical Writer, and eventually hired a second
     writer.  It has worked out very well so far, partly because the
     Product Marketing group is quite technical, responsible for defining
     product features, working closely with the developers and QA, and
     often helping with customer support, installation, and training.  I
     get to talk to - and even VISIT - customers when necessary, and have
     travelled more than I ever did as a part of other development teams.

     Of course, we have the same problems as many of you do: getting the
     SMEs to respond to questions, receiving review drafts in a timely
     manner, keeping informed of feature "enhancements", too much to write
     in too short a time, etc.

     Things are changing here, though.  We just hired a new V.P. of
     development, who took over what he calls the Tech Pubs group as of
     3/15.  He has instituted many procedures such as the use of resource
     allocation charts and other formal planning tools.

     Personally, I chose to remain in Product Marketing.  I've been
     assigned my own products, and have been writing marketing material,
     sales information, product bulletins, and release notes instead of
     manuals.  I've given demos and run training sessions.  I even got to
     make a promotional video tape, and am starting work on a
     "self-install" package.  New, different, interesting.  But no longer
     part of the (now one-person) Tech Pubs group.  It will be a while
     before we see if moving Documentation from Marketing to Development
     was a good idea or not.

     Brenda Huettner
     (now) Product Marketing
     bphuettner -at- wsicorp -dot- com