TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Re: What is there is "Donkey Work" you prefer to do yourself? WAS:Someone to do the "donkey work"? (take II)
Subject:Re: What is there is "Donkey Work" you prefer to do yourself? WAS:Someone to do the "donkey work"? (take II) From:Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Sat, 07 Mar 2009 21:47:29 -0500
Another possibility is that she's "done there been that" and knows that
the person with the reputation for fixing everything get stuck into
fixing everything. Happens to IT folks all the time, they get asked to
fix the Xerox machine, the coffee maker, the shredder.) Has wires?
Belongs to IT.) Fortunately a lot of it can be handled by asking, "Is it
plugged in? Oh, it is? Good. What happens if you unplug it? Oh, so it
/wasn't/ plugged in! Good job. You got it figured out!"
In a previous life I had to deny that I knew anything about a particular
delicate piece of equipment. I was the best adjuster of H-plates on a
Model 33 any place I worked, but all my time would go into adjusting ALL
the H plates every day! (If you know anything about H plates, the dirt
on them is younger than you are.)
Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> Without knowing your boss or organization, it's impossible to say if
you're missing anything. It's possible that she is only saying that the
work is somehow "beneath you" because she's had past experiences with
writers frying CPUs while attempting to open up computers to perform
"upgrades" that she wants to avoid having again, or that she's afraid
that if you do it successfully some corporate beancounter will slash the
capital equipment budget and require everyone (including her) to do
their own. But if none of that is the case and it is just "bias" on her
part, then she is the boss. I imagine you must have other work to do if
she isn't telling you to just transfer your tools and data to one of the
unused systems left behind by departed coworkers who aren't being replaced.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 2009 is your all-in-one authoring and publishing
solution. Author in Doc-To-Help's XML-based editor, Microsoft Word or
HTML and publish to the Web, Help systems or printed manuals. http://www.doctohelp.com
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
