Comment by plumbees
3 hours ago
I thought the reply was generally helpful. Something to consider about in my equally exacting wording as I share the same frustration as the original comment and this give me a framework to view possible issues with my own writing. I.E. You can't change what others will do, you can only change what you yourself do. In this case: Carefully crafted exacting documentation is being ignored = frustrating to me = can't change if others don't want to read it =;;; sorry I have a more elegant way to do this: My meaning is thus: While it is sometimes easier and apt to blame others for their actions, blaming others doesn't actually contribute to any meaningful growth or change. If you take on the blame yourself, even if 100% of the blame falls on the somebody else, then it leads to open ended questions on how that process can be better. Given that you have no control over other people, blaming yourself shifts the issue back onto you for a solution. This can reveal a treasure trove of oppurtunities not before explored. It can be as simple as understanding that there are different levels of technical documentation: How-tos, vs explanitory, vs laymen, etc. Or it could lead to a different exploration as to: How did I end up in this situation, what is the mistake that *I* made? Which could be an easy fix or it can be a philosophical or temporal fix. I made the mistake of:
+ Assuming people cared about this as much as I do
+ Allow another person to control then narrative: (I could have sent it out to stake holders myself; and bare whatever consequences from my hiearchy)
+ Not written any documentation and given the endpoints to an AI to communicate to laymens (because I may or may not have communication skills)
+ Take a course in communication The list goes on and on, but the beauty is that sometimes it's truely and deeply philosophical such as, because I trusted somebody who wasn't to be trusted; because I'm in the wrong place and *know* I know I should be here.
Shifting the blame to the self is less about accepting blame and more about introspection and it is the most valuable lesson I learned from my wife when we first started dating. (It help me identify that as a person I tend to blame others first before blaming myself, and to spend 10 years practicing the muscle to reverse that order)
TLDR: You have willpower, use it by taking ownership over yourself. This is a learned skill and is not enate and requires breaking preconceptions and stepping out of yourself to find.
Based on other comments in the thread but not any direct reply to mine. I would also express that I was surprised when a coworker of mine complained that nobody read message boxes we put up to help the user. It was my first corporate job and I had already learned and ingrained from my experience at a small office that nobody reads technical instructions either. That alas also requires training. Usually by having the documentation open and doing exactly what is written with them watching, or with them doing (better). (Helps reveal gaps in documentation such as, Oh most users don't know how to traverse a file system, let alone what one is... how?, It's an analogy to office filings which they did everyday? why??? I never understood but, alas I've never been able to teach somebody who doesn't understand the file system, the file system.... my weakness)