RE: Squashed ego--techwriter syndrome?

[John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

> > > that. It would have been
> > > better had nothing been said. "Beautifying"
> > > ????????????
> > Sean. I think you're being overly sensitive.
> 
> I don't think he is being overly sensitive.
> Beautifying is not a term I
> would like to use to describe what I do. It's one of
> those weird terms that
> praises and belittles at the same time.

You're right...it is one of those words that can mean
so many things, some of those meanings very different
from each other.

OTOH, I've used the term myself to describe my work. I
handed in a document that had many hundreds of pages
from many many hours of work, and when the person said
it was great output, I said "yep..it's a beautiful
thing". 

I wouldn't be too hard on the person who used the
term. However, if the term just rubs you wrong, sit
down with the person and ask him in a pleasant,
non-confrontational way, what did he mean by that? It
may turn out that the person was actualy more
impressed with the product than even Sean believes he
was.

All I'm saying is don't be "brittle" and make the
person wish he hadn't said anything...because next
time, you may get what you want.

=====
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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