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Subject:Re: Managing Engineers From:mpriestl -at- ca -dot- ibm -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 21 Nov 2000 17:35:02 -0500
Andrew Plato wrote:
>If you can't or won't engage SMEs in a thoughtful technical conversation,
>then they aren't going to trust you to adequately communicate the design
>of their system. Imagine if somebody walked up to you and said they
>were going to write a detailed user manual on FrameMaker, but had NO
>idea how to use the product or even what it could do (and had no intention
>of learning). Would you trust this person to write such a manual?
Imagine if somebody walked up to you and said they were going to create a
complex piece of software based on an environmental report you just
published using FrameMaker, but had NO idea how to use FrameMaker or even
what it could do (and had no intention of learning). Would you trust this
person to write such a piece of software?
My point being: someone's credibility should not be gauged by their command
of irrelevant knowledge. Knowledge of the audience's domain is what's
important for a writer, not knowledge of the programmer's domain. The only
exception to this is when the audience's domain is programming.
That said, I agree that developers are more likely to respect you if you
have a clue about what they're doing. I just don't think it's fair or
logical.
And that said, I've been happily writing docs for programmers for eight
years, so I'm not making this argument out of a fear of technology. I'm in
the exception case. And for what it's worth, I don't have a clue how to use
FrameMaker (HTML, SGML, XML, I can help you - with Word or Frame I'm
absolutely helpless).
Speaking on my own behalf,
Michael Priestley
mpriestl -at- ca -dot- ibm -dot- com
IBM Canada
Toronto Information Development
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