RE: Individual vs. Departmental Writer's Voice

Subject: RE: Individual vs. Departmental Writer's Voice
From: Marguerite Krupp <mkrupp -at- cisco -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 15:36:38 -0400

>From the corporate standpoint, Argument 2 (conformity) is preferable, for
the following reasons:

* Users are easily confused when they have to interpret nuances of phrasing.
* Translations take more time when they have to interpret different
vocabulary and style
* If you have any thought of single-sourcing in the future, conformity to
style and vocabluary are important first steps... but by far, they're not
the only steps. Anything you can do now in the original writing will
simplify everyone's life later.
* It's the company's/shareholders' money, not the writer's.

>From the individual writer's viewpoint, the real challenge here is to
exercise creativity to make the things written fit the established pattern.
Otherwise, it's just exasperating. One of the hardest parts of
single-sourcing is giving up ownership and accepting what other people have
done, even if you *know* that *you* could have done it better. As someone
else said, you're a professional. Get over it.

OTOH, I think we've all encountered power-tripping editors. Nobody on *this*
list, of course <G>, but they do exist. Maybe a little negotiation is in
order here?

FWIW,
Marguerite

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