RE: Manager problems

Subject: RE: Manager problems
From: Christina Rothwell <crothwell -at- bowstreet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2001 13:43:46 -0400

I am on deadline, so I really don't have time to give a thorough response,
but I could not resist replying. The fact that information is missing says
to me there is a problem with the process.

Why were you not told during the review process that information was
missing? Was there a review process? Was someone in QA reviewing the
documentation as well? I believe that technical writers need to test out
their own work, but you need at least a second person to obtain a different
viewpoint on your documents.

Great documentation is not a result of the single efforts of a technical
writer. It is the result of an entire team communicating with each other.
How are you supposed to know the gritty details of a program, such as its
API, unless programmers tell you the methods (warning: Java speak here) they
added to the code?

Also, many times nobody knows the full extent of the product until it is
being used by customers. During the second release, the documentation
improves because more topics have come to light.

I am not trying to push the blame on anyone, and I certainly don't think you
should be the sole person taking the rap for this one. It sounds as if the
culture of the company is to find a scapegoat when something goes wrong
instead of trying to fix the problem.

Try to find out why you were not alerted to the information missing before
they shipped the product. You may also want to find ways to improve the
process, such as getting people to sign off on the documentation, more
reviews, etc. In the meantime, I would start looking around for a job
elsewhere. You don't want to work in an environment where the management is
looking for someone to blame when something goes wrong.

Best wishes,
Christina

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