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Subject:RE: The three great virtues of a technical writer From:APEERY -at- FAMILYDOLLAR -dot- COM To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 21 Dec 2001 10:46:28 -0500
intelligence
empathy
passion (verging upon obsession) for accuracy
*Granted, many brilliant people are unable to communicate effectively, but
how many unintelligent people can communicate at a high level? You don't
have to write well to be smart, but don't you have to be smart to write
well? I suspect sheer brains may be the sine qua non of tech writing. (I
also suspect that I'm about to get the sh** flamed out of me for that
elitist suspicion.) :)
Fascinating responses. Excellent post, Earl. I'm very surprised no one
(that I've seen) has cited "technical knowledge." Is the assumption that
the "virtues" we're discussing should be innate?
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Earl Cooley [SMTP:shiva -at- io -dot- com]
> Sent: Friday, December 21, 2001 1:08 AM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: The three great virtues of a technical writer
>
> What are the three greatest single-word virtues
> that typify an outstanding technical writer?
>
> I ask because I'm working up an idealistic manifesto
> on the topic, and I value the opinions of the people
> on this list.
>
> As an example, three attributes for help desk people
> could be Patience, Service, and Accuracy. Those of
> you who have programmed in Perl probably already know
> that the three great virtues of a programmer are
> Laziness, Impatience, and Hubris:
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