Document Control and Tech Writers

[George Mena <zorba -at- BAYPLAY -dot- COM>]

Regarding Melissa Conniff's post on dividing the tech writer job, I
thought I'd make some observations:

1)  If I read this right, the two women without any formal tech writing
background were the mainstays of the old Document Control group.  I say
this because Melissa's post reminds me a lot of my last permanent job.
There, I was the company's first full-time tech writer, while the Doc
Control folks were the guardians of the documentation system.  Made for
some interesting times.

2)  The folks in Doc Control probably have been with the company longer
than Melissa and her boss.  As such, it's probably Melissa and her boss
who have to prove themselves to the Doc Control folks, not the other way
around.  That's not only the way the Doc Control folks will see it, but
it'll also be the way *company management* may also see it.  After all,
if things don't work out, Melissa and her boss can always be fired and
the company can always go back to relying on Doc Control.  Not saying
this to be catty; rather, it's my view of the situation and nothing
more.

3) There is a way to manage this situation:

a)  The two sides in this need to respect each other as equals whether
they like it or not.  Are the Doc Control folks typists? Right now, yes:
WHAT OF IT?  They've been doing their jobs to the best of their
abilities for the company, and probably longer than Melissa and her
boss.  Guess who the Doc Control folks see as a threat -- but who know
better than to voice their feelings because they want to keep their
jobs? :D  Being a typist is to be in an honorable profession.   Besides,
if Doc Control has been "the way documents have always been done",
chances are excellent they'll have more pull with the CEO, the VP of
Engineering and the engineering staff in general because they've proved
their worth over time.  This is a time for caution on both sides, but
especially for Melissa and her boss.  After all, Doc Control folks are
usually paid a lot less than tech writers.  That means they cost less to
keep around than tech writers.

b)  As to managing the workflow, it's best to let the Doc Control folks
handle the legacy documentation and to have Melissa and her boss handle
the new documentation projects.  Something both Melissa and her boss
need to do is develop the following:

* Develop a tech pubs work request form and matching procedure and have
the powers that be sign off on it, including the Doc Control folks.
This will help the pubs supervisor document how much of a workload there
really is in terms of requirements for new documentation to be generated
vs. how much legacy docs need revising. This also lets the Doc Control
folks know what work to expect as well as the TWs.

* Encourage the Doc Control folks to use their editorial skills that
they're not necessarily using now.  A lot of times, the Doc Control
folks have typed up a lot of crap from engineers verbatim and not
necessarily have developed a list of questions for them to pose to the
engineers.  By developing such lists, however, they not only use their
analytical skills (and yes, they do have them) but they potentially can
call problem areas of the texts to the attention of the engineers.
Melissa and her boss can help out here by adding their knowledge bases
to those of the Doc Control folks.  Further, by having both Melissa and
her boss act as editors as well as TWs, the Doc Control folks learn a
concept more important than how to use Frame, namely how to think.


Final comment:  Doc Control is a place a lot of people seek to escape
from because it's boring as shit.  People who can't escape from it
without leaving a company altogether will either go right back into such
a similar position, either because they think it's all they can do or
it's all they think they're "good enough" to do.

While I've been typing this out, I've been thinking of the Doc Control
folks I dealt with at my last permanent job.  The one woman who I
thought I could train to be a good TW -- she had great analytical skills
especially analytical thinking -- felt she was never good enough to go
become a tech writer.  And yet, she faced her life with a lot of
courage, a lot more than a lot of people think they have.

She was divorced, 40-something, single mom of 2, including a son with
Down's Syndrome, then age 3.  Had she gone to school, even junior
college at our De Anza College in nearby Cupertino, she could've become
a good TW.  The only thing she needed after a computer of her own to
work on (once she could afford it) was a champion (as in a man who would
take care of her and her young son) to help her with her self-esteem and
her child care while she got her education.

Her colleagues moved on.  Her former supervisor went back to her
previous employer and moved back into being a QA spuervisor.  Her
co-worker moved out of Doc Control and into Human Resources, where she
now participates in the screening process for new hires.  But I have a
feeling she herself is still in Doc Control, working bizarre hours so
she can care for her child while still hold down what's supposed to be a
day job instead of a day-and-swing shift job.

I think Glenn Frey and Don Hendley of the Eagles had it right in their
tune "Already Gone":

So many times it happens
that we live our lives in chains
and we never even know
that we have the key

I pray that woman finds the key one day soon so she can live a better
life for her and that kid of hers.

Thanks for reading.

George Mena
(posting from home till his computer at work gets fixed)

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