Re: Blue chip, bored, and biding time

[Suzette Seveny <sseveny -at- PETVALU -dot- COM>]

I went through something very similar when I started with my current company.
 spent lots of time sitting around, doing nothing.  I even went to personnel
and asked why I was hired.  I spent my time learning new technologies such as
Visual Source Safe, HTML Help, HTML, Online documentation, etc.  Still, I was
very unhappy.  I kept thinking that the day would come when somebody would say,
"So, you've been here x months now.  What have you been doing?"

I am used to being productive.  I looked at their current manuals and suggested
updating them (they were out of date).  I was told that all systems were being
rewritten, and I was not to "waste" any time on current / legacy systems.

I wrote some papers on what makes good user documentation.  Nobody read them.
 I set up appointments with developers to discuss their ongoing projects.
 People either never responded or stood me up.

I examined their systems development methodology, and rewrote it to include
documentation.  I did flowcharts to show when and how I should get involved.
 Then I set up a meeting with the vice president, and senior member of the
systems department.  I circulated my recommended process and the redesigned
methodology, along with an agenda that included clearly expected outcomes.

In the meeting, I expressed my expectations of the development team, and asked
for their expectations of me.  In the development methodology, I included
documentation at the beginning of the design phase, with the business
requirements gathering. (I thought I would start there and negotiate anything
else).

Once everyone knew how I felt, everything was approved and agreed on and the
work has been so steady, it's unbelievable.  I still don't have deadlines, and
if I say it will take x days to document something, they accept that.  The vice
president has shown me his support by insisting that all new systems must have
documentation before it can go into production, and that documentation must be
included in the user test phase.

I had to take the bull by the horns, which was something I was not used to
doing.  I was used to being overworked, underappreciated, etc.  The work came
to me, often several projects at a time.  I am now working on three
simultaneous projects, and couldn't be happier.  Because I schedule my own
time, I estimate projects generously, based on 9 to 5 working days.  No
overtime or weekends.

Life is good now.

Suzette Seveny
Markham, Ontario, Canada
sseveny -at- petvalu -dot- com or suzette -at- yesic -dot- com


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