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1) You were singled out.
2) Different people have different priorities and
having a good looking document was his. You satisfied
his priority. That's good.
3) How many projects have you been on where the
project manager didn't even know you existed.
I'd send him back a message:
1) Thanks for the comnpliment. Be sincere...it was a
compliment.
2) Tell him..."BTW...in addition to 'beautifying' the
documentation, you were a factor in the following
other "document ingredients"'...you list them. Then
ask him if he believes that these were also performed
with equal accomplishment.
3) Print out the email and place it in your portfolio.
When interviewing, you may come across another person
who's priority is attractive looking documents and
this will confirm that you know how to do that too.
> I just finished a project . . . three books (two
> small) and online help. Two
> books (including a 600-pager) were original pieces,
> the third was a
> reformatting and editing of an existing piece. The
> online help was new.
>
> The project manager fired off an e-mail genuinely
> thanking everyone for
> their effort and specifically thanking me for
> "beautifying" the
> documentation. I'm, er, not entirely happy with
> that. It would have been
> better had nothing been said. "Beautifying"
> ????????????
>
> What the . . . heck . . . do I do with that?
> Thoughts? Do I just suck it up
> and take the thoughts in the vein they were . . . er
> . . . intended.
=====
John Posada, Merck Research Laboratories
Sr Technical Writer, WinHelp and html
(work) john_posada -at- merck -dot- com - 732-594-0873
(pers) jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com - 732-291-7811
"The art of creating software that is usable by individuals is a communication skill. It is not a programming skill."
--Bill Atkinson, creator of MacPaint and HyperCard
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