And that, my friends, is the way it's _supposed_ to work. Not to be too maudlin, but days in a working environment like that are what a techwriter lives for. If that situation doesn't exist in your company, why doesn't it? What have you been doing to try to influence the situation toward that ideal? You can swap out the word "code" for "product", it's the same principle. We have solid skills that should be used to inform the product.
The original question was about deadlines changing without input from or consideration of the docs people. If docs people don't speak up and claim their place in the product life cycle, we won't get the consideration that we deserve. I'm all for being proactive and building relationships across the company to support the documentation effort. As professional communicators we should have the communication skills to convince others of the value of documentation. Bill Swallow wrote: > We used to treat documentation as an incidental. Now it's a very huge > part of the products we ship, to the point where developers are > contrinuting to and informing the documentation and the writers are > contributing to and informing the code. > ______________________________________________ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. DITA West 2007--Use a discount code of "TECHCOMMPROS" to get a discount rate of $200 off the $800 price if you register before close of business January 15, 2007. http://www.travelthepath.com/conf/dita2007.shtml _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
