Re: Directions for tomorrow's techwriting

Subject: Re: Directions for tomorrow's techwriting
From: Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 18:51:13 -0300


Phil Levy [mailto:phillevy -at- yahoo -dot- com] asks:

Actually, don't you think that XML will soon make it
easy for engineers to just fill in the blanks, thus
eliminating the need for most tech writers?

No. It isn't just a matter of adding content in the appropriate places - it's a matter of adding useful content. That's an obvious statement, but people can easily forget the fact.

I've just finishing up a contract at a company that invested in structural templates for documentation. I've looked at dozens of documents produced by non-writers using the templates. Many of those who attempted to document thought they had done their jobs when they had put some content beneath each heading. In all except a handful of cases, they were wrong. Sometimes, the headings were irrelevant to their topics. Sometimes, they gave obvious information (for example, when the doc is called a System Administrator's Guide, you don't really need to mention the fact in a heading in the document). At other times, they didn't notice that important information had been left out; after all, they had followed the template, hadn't they? Apparently, the resulting documents were approved in the same way, since nobody noticed that many of these documents were useless.

As I used to tell first year university students, an outline is useful, but you still need to write the document.

I'm not talking about XML, but the same principle applies. Not everything that goes into "the blanks" is going to be useful information

--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com

"Better fail in a grand style than succeed in a mean one - you won't enjoy the successes you get the second way."
- Fritz Leiber, "The Oldest Soldier"




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References:
RE: Directions for tomorrow's techwriting: From: Haas, Guy

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