Re: more #$ -at- %#^&$# secretary stuff...

[JIMCHEVAL <JIMCHEVAL -at- AOL -dot- COM>]

In a message dated 98-05-12 13:57:53 EDT, durl -at- BUFFNET -dot- NET writes:

<<      He asked a few relevant questions (no cannonballs, no grenades)
 and then said, "Are you willing to take meeting minutes and make copies?"
         Does this *happen* to you gentlemen?  >>

Yes.

More than one client's asked me to take minutes.  Plus, one project leader
(whom I'd been warned would do little work himself and try to get everybody
else to pick up his tasks) responded to my initial attempts to welcome him
with a little basic help by saying "You're going to make a great right-hand
man."  Forewarned, I quickly resisted my naturally helpful impulses and stuck
to 'straight' technical writing. at which point he tried to convince me that
doing his project plans and spreadsheets were all 'technical writing' (well,
they're writing, you see, and they're done on a computer, so they're
technical!)

Writers are often brought on projects where - in management perception - all
the 'important' work is being done by the analysts and programmers and they
expect the writers to fill in the gaps.

It's not unusual to have to remind people that we are professionals and that
there is a particular, circumscribed profession we exercise.  And of course,
when someone spends all day typing, more than one person will decide they're a
secretary.

(I've also had the reverse situation - on one project, I got so macro-happy
that the manager had to remind me, "We hired you to WRITE, not to program."
I.e., "Stop being so damned TECHNICAL!")

Jim Chevallier
North Hollywood
== JC's TW page - http://members.aol.com/jimcheval/twone.htm ===