Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Professional hazards - IV

Drama alert!

Us technical writers are like beggars, always asking for information. Snooty developers and snootier product managers oblige us when they're in a generous mood. But mostly we're found knocking on their posh car windows looking for a scrap of information that they'd want to throw at us, if only to throw us off their trail for a while. We gladly lap up every bit we receive only to realize that it wasn't what we needed. Once in a while some benevolent soul comes along and throws a few better-looking scraps, along with a look that says: use it well.

When they cross us a few days later, we show them what we've made of it. That's when they decide that it wasn't what they wanted to give us in the first place. Then they throw another large scrap at us and ask us to clean up the nice little trinket that we made out of the earlier scrap.

Oh, and did I mention the QA folk? They look at our trinket as if it's a waste of their time and that they need to get it off their hands before they're possessed by whatever's in it. If they are in a generous mood, they might even throw some bugs at us, praising our trinket for what it lacks. That, when they can barely string a few words together to make a sentence. Even if their life depends on it.

Disclaimer: I know I've made sweeping generalizations and accusations in this post, but would you prefer if I did a whiny, plaintive post with great detail of who said what to whom? I get my funny out instead.

8 comments:

~G said...

I am not showing this post to the tech writers in my team. *hurriedly closing window while looking guilty*

Pallavi Sharma said...

Heh, heh! I'm sure everyone has such complaints about their respective professions. But yes, best to not open a can of worms when everything is cool on the surface at least. :P

Anonymous said...

Hiya Pallu. Came here after a looooong time :( Guilty!!
And ohh....did I by any chance mention I'm a QA??
:D
Lemme reassure you, the QAs in your office are scumbugs. People like me, on the other hand, are angels ;)

Pallavi Sharma said...

Oh, I would kill to work with a QA like you. You are articulate. You care. And I love you. :D

i-me-moi said...

in a world of quieter friendscapes and over expressed jabber on facebook, it's awesome to come back here and find that you still go on posting. im disappointed in the non-writers.

Pallavi Sharma said...

Aww, thank you, sweetie. And I keep refreshing your pages like crazy to see what you have to say next.

Anonymous said...

Gosh sweetie, I just dropped by here to remind you to blog and found this lovely little message you left for me. Am rather ashamed for missing out on it before :(
For the record, darling, I love you too :) and would DIE to work with you. You are so much FUN to be around with all the time :)

Pallavi Sharma said...

Hey, chill. I should be ashamed to not be energetic enough to blog when you can find time for it after managing so much else. Coulda never done that. I'm in awe that your enthusiasm, babe!