Mission statements

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

 There's a really good case for a mission statement when
 your group really doesn't know why it exists, and neither
 does anyone else. I'd hope that this statement doesn't
 apply to many techwhirlers; if it does, you're on dangerous
 ground. Managers love mission statements because they're
 something they can post on the walls to impress visitors
 and scare the children, but they have no practical purpose
 if management doesn't believe in the mission right up to
 their pointy little heads and won't provide you with the
 support necessary to get you where you're going.

 If you absolutely must create a mission statement, keep it
 to two sentences totaling less than 50 words. If you can't
 say it in one or two breaths, you'll never remember it, and
 if you can't remember it, forget about implementing it. My
 own team's mission statement isn't wonderful, but it
 basically says one thing: "to help our authors communicate
 with our audience". I'd love to have said it that way, but
 I don't set the rules for these things. If you're a writing
 group, you could probably delete "help our authors" with
 little loss.

 <Fe> Of course, you could probably take this pithy phrase
 and convert it into Latin to lend it the necessary air of
 majesty and mystery... </Fe>

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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