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<The trend towards writers doing layout is strongest in
companies or industries where nobody bothers to hire
skilled graphic designers or editors: the notion seems to
be that one small group of overworked generalists is
preferable to a somewhat larger group of experts. Huh?>
I really liked the way Geoff addressed this issue; he wears many hats
but specializes in a couple. His message leads me to add my philosophy
as a manager to this discussion.
I built my own team from scratch, and, yes, I hired "overworked
generalists." We use FrameMaker, RoboHelp, and Adobe Acrobat to create
software manuals, help files, and .PDF files for on-line manuals. I
tried to hire each team member for specific strengths; graphics,
organization, help skills, processes, ability to learn new software,
technical knowledge, editing, etc. Finally, I hired a "newbie" to train
and delegate some of the less intense tasks. I do most of the editing
for the group to ensure that everything is consistent. Each employee has
their own set of projects, but can draw on the specialized skills of the
others.
This philosophy worked great while many writers with varying skills were
searching for a job. Lately, though, I've lost a couple of writers to
once-in-a-lifetime opportunities and I'm not getting the candidates to
replace them. I may have to hire less-skilled people and train them. I
foresee an impact on our productivity and my workload.
Anyway, I just wanted to add my .02 and encourage the writers out there
to watch for my job posting coming up soon! And don't shy away from the
"overworked" description above; we have drop-dead deadlines where we
work quite a bit, but during normal working times we stick to around
forty-hour weeks.
Rene' Seigh
Manager of Technical Communication
VME Microsystems International Corporation (VMIC)
12090 South Memorial Parkway
Huntsville, AL 35803
(205) 650-8209
rene -dot- seigh -at- vmic -dot- com
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