Re: Additional roles for technical writers

[David Farbey <dfarbey -at- yahoo -dot- co -dot- uk>]

Some not-strictly-technical-writing "chores" can be fun:
- taking part in the software development department's Agile Improvement
Community (fortnightly meetings on "how can we all do agile better?")
- researching content management and workflow systems for the company
- representing the company at "user community meetings" (especially when
they are held in smart hotels overseas!)

I think the difference between an exciting extra task and a frustrating
chore is in the behaviour and attitude of the manager concerned. If your
manager treats you like a generic cog in his or her big machine you won't
enjoy any task. If they treat you like an intelligent colleague who has
something to contribute, then you'll be happy to do almost anything for
them.

YMMV

David

David Farbey - david -at- farbey -dot- co -dot- uk
Mobile  07538 420 800
http://about.me/davidfarbey


On 25 December 2014 at 18:07, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:

> Work in a 10-person start-up.  Instead of territorial battles, you get
> people pleading for volunteers to take on tasks with offers to walk you
> through the processes.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
> On 12/25/2014 3:35 AM, Peter Neilson wrote:
>
>> Yeah, "user interface redesign". That one usually involves treading
>> heavily on someone's toes.
>> Let's see...
>>  - "I'm sorry, but the user interface is the responsibility of the
>> developer." (We won that battle.)
>>  - "Right, it won't do X, but the customer won't WANT to do X." (We lost,
>> but customers rejected the product.)
>>  - "Stop talking to my developers. I'm the manager. All communication
>> goes through ME." (Explicitly contrary to company policy. Manager ousted.)
>>  - "The problem is [the writer] doesn't understand the software. Oh, wait
>> a minute. Yes, she's right. That's a design error."
>>
>
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