Re: Giving TW help: Are we training our replacements?

["Chuck Martin" <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com>]

"Dick Margulis" <margulis -at- fiam -dot- net> wrote in message news:224709 -at- techwr-l -dot-  -dot-  -dot- 
> Bruce Byfield wrote:

> > In my experience, doing a professional favor is never wasted. You don't
> > always get the favor back from the one you help (and there are some
> > selfish nithlings in the local writing and high-tech communities, let me
> > tell you), but you'll often find that you get a favor back from someone
> > else who hears of your decency. One way or another, it comes back to
you.
> >
>
> Here I agree with you. Pass it on, both in the sense of passing acquired
> knowledge to the next generation and repaying a good deed by doing one
> in turn for the next person.
>
> However, I do understand Chuck's discomfort with certain requests. And
> this has nothing to do with whether the person asking is offshore or
> onshore.
>

> There is such a thing as a stupid question, and in the context of this
> discussion I think we can distinguish three kinds of stupid questions,
> which individuals may choose to respond to in divergent ways.
>
> There is the honest stupid question: I'm new here. I've never done tech
> writing before. I'm a secretary/lab technician/junior developer who was
> thrust into this position because my boss couldn't get the budget to
> hire an experienced TW. Please help me get my bearings so I can do a
> good job.
>
> Well, we were all newbies once, and there is a sense of empathy.

How much does that empathy mingle with the knowledge, gained from our own
years of experience, that said boss is being penny wise but pound foolish?

I suppose maybe if they hired all junior developers to write their code, but
I'd guess that this wouldn't result in a successful manager over time. I
don't know of a tactful way to communicate the mesasge "Hire a professional
(we're actually cheaper than many programmers, you know) and you'll get it
done right, and in less time."

>
> Then there is the stupid question from the stupid or lazy person: I
> wrote a user guide once, so I'm a tech writer. Now tell me everything I
> need to know about software lifecycle documentation. And by the way,
> what is software lifecycle documentation?
>
> Harrumph!

I took a bunch of programming classes. I'm a programmer! Woo hoo!

Oh wait, no one believes me. How come it works the other way around again?
:)

>
> Then there is the stupid question from the exploited victim: My boss
> lied to get the contract, saying he had a staff of experienced tech
> writers, and then he hired me off the street, fully understanding that I
> know nothing about this, and gave me no guidance or training. You owe it
> to me to teach me everything I have to know, quickly.
>
> Double Harrumph!
>
> My own reaction is to delete requests that I find more irksome than
> sympathetic. But I'm just a curmudgeon and we all know that.
>
According to Carly Fiorina, no one's owed anything.

-- 
--
Chuck Martin
User Assistance & Experience Engineer
twriter "at" sonic "dot" net      www.writeforyou.com

"I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. The day
may come when the courage of Men fail,  when we forsake our friends and
break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day! This day, we fight!"
                    - Aragorn

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you."
                    - Gandalf