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----- Original Message -----
From: <jenny_berger -at- fairfieldresidential -dot- com>
To: "Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- editors-writers -dot- info>
Cc: <bounce-techwr-l-115343 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>; "TECHWR-L"
<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: April 08, 2003 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: Antwort: Re: Responsibility, blame, managers, and getting the job
done
> It is also somewhat distressing to hear a fellow tech writer advocate for
> an adversarial relationship between tech writers, developers and
> management. That is what I got when I read without emotion your comments
> about how management should order developers to "do their jobs" and pony
> up info to tech writers. And that's what I still got when I read your
> follow-up comment about making interaction between writers and developers
> "policy." Please elaborate and correct me if I've misinterpreted.
>
Goodness! I seem to have managed quite nicely to put my foot in it, haven't I?
I intend only to say that where writers find developers unforthcoming,
management has to assist the writer by making it clear to developers that a
good product requires the participation of all in its creation. I'm saying
that only those developers who do not see that intuitively and act accordingly
need to be "ordered" by management to perform their jobs.
> From my experience, such policies do more harm than good because it tends
> to remove the tech writer's responsibility for content from the equation.
> I know you're not meaning to say that developers should be providing tech
> writers with content, but that's how it ends up being interpreted by both
> developers and tech writers when it becomes "policy." Professionals don't
> like to be micromanaged, and mandating through policy that developers be
> available to tech writers has exactly that effect.
>
>
I'm just saying that those developers who avoid answering questions and who
behave less than collaboratively need management guidance. I am certainly not
saying that developers should be spoon-feeding content. But I am saying what I
think all technical writers believe -- that developers should be aware that
documentation is part of the product itself and that writers will always have
things that need clarification.
Perhaps I am arguing a point that is so elementary that we all agree on it.
But it seems to always be lurking behind the "error" discussion.
In some ways, though, developers *do* give us content, of course. But that's
not what you're asking. I'm saying that a collaborative environment can only
be the result of management leadership, basically.
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