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Subject:Re: Ethical Question - RESPONSE - From:Bill Burns <BillDB -at- ILE -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 6 Jan 1999 13:16:57 -0700
Mike writes:
> I disagree. For contract tech. writers, your advice is the road to ruin.
> Your reputation will never survive accepting a job with a low-quality
> deliverable, no matter how convinced you are that the client's just fine
> with that.
>
Given your circumstances, you have a valid point, but your response was to a
statement I made about one person's specific conditions in a full-time
position working on a project that has less than a month for product
development, testing, and delivery. It's not exactly the same context you
provide here. And if this person were a contract writer, she'd have the
option of saying, "No, it can't be done within schedule at the level of
quality that I require." In fact, earlier in my post, I said something to
the effect that the correct response is sometimes, "No, I can't do it."
That's doubly so for a contractor. I don't think that's at odds with what
you're saying. I think my words were simply taken out of context.
And don't mistake what I said as advice to intentionally do a half-baked
job. However, you can only do what is humanly possible within a given amount
of time within a given scope.
Bill Burns
ILE Communications Group
billdb -at- ile -dot- com
Call me fishmeal.
