RE: Appealing to or introducing Tech Comm "best practices"

[bbatorsk -at- admin -dot- nj -dot- devry -dot- edu]

I hope people reading this thread are also reading the Are Best Practices
Standards thread.  Susan Harkus' note, I think, effectively addresses what
I think is the "red herring" of this standards discussion.  My response to
her post wants to move the discussion from standards (which both parties
here agree exist) to the real issue addressed by the "literature" which is
measuring the effectiveness of standards and changing them.  

If we are really concerned with creativity in the field--and not just
feeling the "power" of our ego--then we have to see that it is protected
and fostered.  Managerial advice--and it is managerial advice--which says
"just do it" is irresponsible and deadening--In Plato's Republic the
Philospher Kings drive out the poets because the Kings are in possession of
the arcane knowledge of the true nature of being, while the poets are fools
deluded by the illusory nature of their senses. A manager who says "Just Do
It" to me is either a hustler, an exploiter, or incompetent, and I am
looking for the exit.  A manager who shows me her numbers, her method, and
her plan, I can work with.  We make explicit plans because we know we get
things wrong and the world changes.  

Susan finally describes how she manages standards to foster creativity, or
in TQM terms (for those who have been doing their homework), "buy in."  

Barry