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Subject:Re: Writing Test? From:bbatorsk -at- admin -dot- nj -dot- devry -dot- edu To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Sat, 20 Nov 1999 15:07:56 -0500
Mark Levinson says:
>Marc Santacroce wondered whether we test contractors the
>way we test FTE writers. ...I don't.... I examine samples from a
contractor,
>and I figure that the contract itself should give me sufficient
>opportunity to escape in plenty of time if the work turns out
>to be lousy. How likely is it that I'll get lousy work from a
>successful contractor anyway? So far in my experience the answer
>is "very likely" and the schedule seldom allows for a restart
>from scratch, so I'm thinking of changing my ways.
For some reason, this leaves me sceptical as to whether "testing" your
contractors will improve your chances of attracting and identifying good
ones. There may be variables in the way you make your choices that you are
not considering. I would repeat the quotation a previous poster cited,
from Will Rogers, to the effect that it is not what you don't know that'll
get you, but what you think you know that ain't so. I think I'll make it my
epitaph.
