Re: An Engineer has infected my young mind!

Subject: Re: An Engineer has infected my young mind!
From: Sybille Sterk <sybille -at- wowfabgroovy -dot- net>
To: Christi <christi -at- sageinst -dot- COM>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 11:13:08 +0100

Hi Christi,

Sorry, I've been a bit aggressive here to give Sierra a boost. I agree, I usually get a lot of input from engineers and I do ask them if there is anything they'd like to see in the manual etc. However, as far as the way the presentation of the information goes, I am the expert!

I am usually getting on quite well with the engineers, and most of them are quite happy to let me write the manuals. I also occasionally make suggestions concerning the UI or other things like that... which are received more or less well, depending on the programmer.

Think about it, though, if you are a lone, inexperienced tech writer up against a (probably) older confident engineer who tells you what to do, it is very difficult to do what you think best. There's nothing wrong with a bit of confrontation or saying "stop, no further, this is my business". - It's the same when you try and be your own person rather than your parents' little one... sometimes it needs a bit of aggression before you can talk to one another as adults.

Generally, I think that tech writing is greatly undervalued, especially by programmers who think it's not really necessary, which makes Sierra's position even more difficult.

Hope you see my point.

Sybille

At 23:35 18/05/00 , Christi wrote:

on 5/18/00 3:26 PM, Sybille Sterk wrote:
<snip>
> The engineer has no business telling you what to put into the manual. You
> are not telling him what to put into the program, are you?
Whoah. I'm usually all for "we are the tech writer and we know best". But I
think this takes it a bit far. I don't think I've ever written a guide
without some input from the engineer (developer, programmer, whatever title
they like). And yes, actually, I do tell them what to put and not put in the
program. If, that is, I think my input would benefit the user and it's
something the developer hasn't thought of or seen or considered.

I think there is more (or should be more) conversation between the TW and
Eng. and I suspect that both sides will have (at least some) valuable input
to both processes.

Sybille Sterk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Email: sybille -at- wowfabgroovy -dot- net
Web Site: www.wowfabgroovy.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This writing business. Pencils and what-not.
Over-rated, if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it." -- Eeyore
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





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Re: An Engineer has infected my young mind!: From: Christi

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