Re: Learning quickly
"You need to be able to learn new, often difficult things, very
quickly"
My question...how is this done. Does it mean that the writer must
simply be brilliant and extremely smart (as is my case :-) ) or does
it mean that someone must know a technique or skill on how to do
this?
Brilliance (even such as yours or mine!) has very little to do with it. It has more to do with flexibility of mind, empathy, imagination, and powers of observation. From encounters at university and in the tech-writing community, I've noticed that many people are intelligent while seriously lacking in these areas. Many people lose the flexibility to learn as they get older, apparently assuming that, once they reach the age of 25 or so, they've learned all they need to get through life. Many also become so wrapped-up in their own concerns that they can't imagine what someone developing a product is thinking, or how someone else might use the product. Others can't imagine the unlikely ways that users might approach a product. Still others can't make systematic observations that allow them to discover how a product works. I've met many academics, and even more tech-writers who are intelligent, but seriously handicapped in most of these areas. In fact, I'm starting to believe that intelligence without these factors is useless. It may also be a curse, because such people probably dimly perceive that they are lacking something, but can't quite understand what it is.
Another factor is an interest in truth and in knowing things that outweighs - at least sometimes - the demands of the ego. Or, to put it another way, it's a willingness to admit that you're wrong, or even to appear stupid in order to learn. Many people are afraid to experiment or to make mistakes. Yet learning is all about making mistakes and correcting them. I sometimes think that my ability to learn is due mainly to the fact that, if there's a mistake to be made, I'm sure to make it - a tendency that's very handy when it comes to writing troubleshooting sections.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com
"Humpty Dumpty was pushed: head over heels all over the wall,
Humpty Dumpty was pushed: nobody noticed at all,
And all the king's horses and all the king's men
Gathered round Humpty and kicked him again;
And they called for a priest and a couple of friends,
And they all stood around and chanted, Amen."
-Tommy Sands, "Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed
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References:
RE: tech writing: From: Malone, Jay Ms., RCI - Vienna
Re: Learning quickly: From: Philip Sharman
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