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Subject:Re: Order Amongst Chaos (venting) From:Elna Tymes <etymes -at- LTS -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 19 Jun 1998 17:50:23 -0700
Kathryn-
> When I asked the
> Product Manager why he didn't come to me sooner, he said he thought our
> department was too busy (i.e., loaded down with projects). Argh again!
Happens all the time. Actually, there are other excuses too - like
writers can't possibly know enough technical details to be able to write
the specs - so the developers will hire their own (writer) to do the
spec. Say what?
In many cases, the developer managers simply don't understand the
importance of updated specs, and the importance of sufficient lead time
to get a document done properly. Granted, some do. When you ask a
developer manager to take some responsibility for doing specs, and
keeping them updated, you may be saying something that to him/her sounds
like you really ARE too busy to do specs. If that's so, then you need
to educate others on the project about what you can do to help while the
project is in development. If the programmers can't/won't write specs,
and they MUST be done, then it falls to your group to get them done.
You have my sympathy, though. It's a long, hard battle that has gone on
at nearly every company we've worked for.
