TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: an engineer has infected my youmg mind! From:"Sierra Godfrey" <kittenbreath -at- hotbot -dot- com> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Thu, 18 May 2000 13:24:17 -0700
All your suggestions are right-on, and great ones. I am thankful for the support. All the points made are correct, and all you assumed fromwhat I told you is correct. I will compromise with this engineer when I can, otherwise I need to ignore what he says and do my own thing--after all, I did take classes in technical writing, and learned what you're all saying.
Most importantly, it's as Catheryn Mason said:
"For many systems and pieces of equipment, one large manual is just too unwieldy. And no one but system experts and fellow engineers wants to read a manual through even
once, not to mention two or three times. Users, in general, just don't have
the time for that (even if they had the interest)."
This affirmation is good-I think I'm doing the right thing. This project is so huge it's scary, and I'm running out of time.
I also like the way Catheryn's company ships out its manuals-and part of my struggle is finding a way to incorporate those three types of manuals into one.
If anyone else has more thoughts, please keep sending them-on the list or off.
Thanks
