It has been explained to us, on many occasions, that there are different types of manager, and they do not necessarily:

 

a) make more money than we do;

b) have higher standing or status than we do

 

In fact, it has been explained to us that a project manager - and this goes for many companies - is essentially on the same level as we are, a working Joe with a crappy salary and no clout with the Higher Powers. To top it all off, the project manager does more work, longer hours and more stress, having to organise and plan and communicate and do all of that stuff, usually internally-paid because the customer has no interest in forking out for that sort of thing. It's a wonder anyone actually sets out to become a project manager, and this leads me to believe that nobody does.

 

I think what this basically boils down to is, the project managers is a roadie to the technical writer's rock star.

 

Think about it. The roadie sets up the stage, carries the boxes, talks to the venue owners and deals with all the annoying little details while the rock star gets in the zone. The roadie is unseen, unappreciated, works long hours and is generally derided by everybody as a waste of space and money. Then the rock star gets up in front of the audience and brings in the money, using the microphones the roadie set up, the guitars the roadie tuned, the amps the roadie gave himself a hernia carrying up from the carpark.

 

Everybody knows the rock star. The rock star is the one everybody sees. They sing the songs and do the dances. Everybody sets out to be a rock star, nobody goes to school thinking they will become a roadie. The roadie is the unsung and faceless blob in the black tracksuit, who runs around behind the scenes and gets in the way backstage, uglying up the joint and simultaneously creating and destroying the rock myth. A necessary evil. The troll that must exist under a bridge somewhere, in order for the pegasus to soar in the skies above.

 

The project manager is the drab, interchangeable drone that makes the technical writer a star.

 

 

 

 

No, I don't buy it either. But I know some project managers who'll find it funny.