Information Development: Managing Your Documentation Projects, Portfolio, and People

Chapter 1. An Introduction to Information-Development Management

	“Management” means, in the last analysis, the substitution of thought for brawn and muscle, of knowledge for folklore and superstition, and of cooperation for force....
	--Peter Drucker, People and Performance[1]

Managing information development has never been simple. Information-development organizations are frequently orphans looking for a permanent home. In many high-tech companies, information developers work within the product development structure, reporting either to product teams or other business units or to a central development organization. In other companies, information developers report to more senior managers in marketing, marketing communications, operations, or customer support and service. In service-oriented companies and nonprofit organizations, information developers report into diverse management structures, often associated with human-resources management or operations. In many of these structures, senior managers have little knowledge, and sometimes little interest, in what information developers contribute to the organization or what they might contribute, given an effective managerial direction.

Despite the difficulties they face in winning respect and appreciation, information-development managers are generally quite adept at focusing on the details of developing publications and meeting deadlines. ...