Re: Do Technical Writers Deserve Their Own Office?

[Hope Cascio <hope -dot- d -dot- cascio -at- US -dot- ARTHURANDERSEN -dot- COM>]

I agree with John.  Until recently, the writers here were spread out in
little clusters to be physically near the developers of the product group
they wrote for.  I got more "unofficial" information, the developers were
more likely to just drop by my cube to ask questions, bring me information,
or get clarification, and I spent a lot more of my energy concentrating on
the product than the writing department's internal issues.  Now all of the
writers are sitting in one room, and I feel we're isolated from our product
groups.  We all communicate with one another a lot more frequently and
informally, but I've lost touch with my developers.

My $ .02,
Hope Cascio

John Posada <posada -at- FAXSAV -dot- COM> wrote:
I'm more responsive sitting among the developers rather than shutting
myself off from them. I'm more approachable, I "hear" of things going on
with my products more readily. And besides, when I really concentrate on a
task (get in a zone?), all I hear is my thinking anyway.
We aren't different than developers. They develop information through code
and we develop information through words. It's only when we stop trying to
convince others that we are "different" (which in some eyes, is thought of
to be "better"), will we be given the equality that we ask for.
...in response to Debra Mazo [SMTP:DMazo -at- CREO -dot- COM], who wrote:
Our Documentation Group is having a hard time justifying private offices
for technical writers to Product Development. We need some strong
reasons to justify that we are different than developers and work more
productively in a quiet working space, especially when we performing
editing duties.