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Subject:Re: A sobering encounter (So now what?) From:Steven Brown <stevenabrown -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 3 Dec 2002 06:43:11 -0800 (PST)
Keith and I agree on the fundamental assumption that
each of us should make the marketplace value us. I
promise to do my best! What I'm suggesting, however,
is not an all-or-nothing proposition. Our making
extraordinary contributions to our employers doesn't
mean that the STC should do nothing to promote our
profession.
When we talk about educating the "public," we're not
talking about my aunt, who's a full-time homemaker.
Nor are we talking about the guy outside running a
bulldozer. Obviously they have no interest in what we
do. But there are thousands (maybe millions?) of
people who have at least a tangential interest in
technical documentation...whether they know it or not.
And that's the point!
You asked how the STC can influence the marketplace?
Well, it's been a long time since I completed a
sequence of public relations courses in college, but
here are a few ideas.
We'd begin by identifying those groups who influence
or control tech pub budgets, as well as groups who
influence perceptions of what we do. Those groups
might be CIOs, IT managers, software programmers, CRM
managers, tech pub managers, etc. We'd find out how
they get information, where they meet, what's
important to them, and then identify ways to appeal to
their interests.
Next, we'd launch an educational campaign to help
these groups understand the value that we add to their
respective industries. The campaign might include
articles authored by leaders in the TW industry,
seminar presentations at industry events explaining
our role, guest lectures in college and university
classes (for computer science majors or MIS
candidates), etc. Clearly, (Keith, you'll like this
part), this would require that we tech writers have
real-world success stories to communicate, practical
examples of how we have added value to the workplace.
I assume some of us are doing great things (see the
single sourcing article in Hackos' most recent Best
Practices newsletter for an example), so we'd gather
those success stories and communicate them.
Why is all this necessary? Because there are thousands
of instances where a strong technical writer is needed
but none is in place. Consider the growing start-up in
need of a tech writer. No one is there to advocate
their hiring a TW, so we have to hope that someone in
the company knows what a techncial writer does and
feels confident that a technical writer will help the
company meet its financial goals. Or consider a
growing customer service department in dire need of a
tech writer to prepare and maintain a policy and
procedure manual. Let's pray that the department
manager knows that we exist!
What else can be done? Technical writers need to be
given the tools to explain what we do and the value we
add. How many times have we seen TWs post to this
listserv asking for a quantitative measure of the
value of tech pubs? Why don't they know? How many of
us could effectively respond to our CEOs should they
walk into our cube today and ask, "Why should I not
fire you?"
Granted, this is all very difficult. As some on this
listserv are quick to point out, many of us do little
more than edit and fondle fonts. There are tech
writers who can't even compose an effective internet
search to learn about a given subject much less
compose an effective response to assertions that a
secretary or programmer can write documentation as
well as a tech writer. But we have to begin somewhere.
As Bill Gladstone pointed out, it's about marketing
ourselves. It's like insurance. We take it for granted
because it's not exciting. But sometimes it takes a
phone call from our insurance agent or a well-written
article in Money magazine to remind us that we need to
review our coverage to make sure it meets our needs.
Those phone calls and articles come from people who've
been given the resources to show us that we're in
danger.
Whew!
Steven Brown
Senior Technical Writer
PR wanna-be
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