Re: Advice Sought: supervising an extreme novice

[Bob Gembey <bob -at- SUPERNOVA -dot- NL>]

Michele,

Rowena's advice was right on-target.  If I may add from my experience
supervising new writers,

1.  It does help to sit down with them every now and again and talk about
the approach they are taking, and the approach you would take.  It is
important that you make clear, in your discussions, when you are making a
suggestion that they may choose to ignore, and when you are making a
correction that you want them to implement.

2.   If this person is not a writer at all, you first have to find out
whether they have writing talent.  If not, oh boy, I don't know what to
tell you.  If they do, then you should also give a short run-down on the
"housestyle" used for the help files.  Also, you should prep them on what
kinds of reactions they are going to get from the developers, and, how to
"translate" the type of jargon they are going to get from them into
something the intended audience will understand.  In particular, whether
certain types of jargon are acceptable for the audience.

Lastly, the 3 weeks may be a bit long for a training period for someone
only working the summer.  I'm not sure where you could cut corners, because
the actions all seem necessary, and its not unreasonable, but maybe it's
not practical.

Good luck!

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