Formatting chaos

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 Dan Azlin presented a situation that, from the corporate
 perspective, seems like an impending catastrophe of
 near-Biblical proportions. Yet from your perspective, Dan,
 it sounds more like pure gold... yet again, you get to ride
 in over the sage, defeat the bad guys, and rescue the town
 from its own worst instincts.

 In your situation, I'd spend the next few weeks defining
 (in detail) what problems exist with the current magnum
 opus, and what you would do to fix them; your message
 indicates that you've already made a good start on this.
 When the book crashes and burns, you'll be ready and
 waiting with a set of solutions. With a little planning,
 the result will be a considerable amount of straightforward
 mechanical labor (e.g., imposing consistency, inserting
 figure references, breaking the manual into one module per
 product, etc.).

 The politics of this situation are a bit delicate, though.
 While it might afford you some emotional satisfaction to
 watch the other writer crash and burn, you'll end up with
 better kharma if you can figure out some way to step in and
 save him through your planning (i.e., share the credit). If
 you can get him on your side, so that he sees you as his
 ally in rescuing the situation, you've got a friend for
 life... if you want one. If you use your plan to crush him,
 you've earned yourself an enemy you really don't need,
 quite apart from the questionable ethics of crushing
 another person just for the satisfaction it brings.

 If you can't finesse the office politics and still save the
 project, you're in a stickier situation. One possibility
 might be to present the solution to a manager you respect,
 on the condition that your involvement never reaches the
 ears of the other writer. You provide the manager with a
 solution that will earn him brownie points with his own
 manager, while enhancing your reputation with someone who
 can help you later on. This might even end up being a good
 time to bring in another temp to do the work (ideally under
 your well-paid supervision!) while you handle the other
 important work they hired you to do in the first place.
 Gotta give those college grads some way to earn some
 experience, right? <grin>

 In any event, good luck... a sticky situation to be in, and
 glad I'm safely on the outside advising inwards.

 --Geoff Hart  @8^{)}
 geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

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