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I am somewhat confused that this discussion always takes so long to
resolve (if resolve is the word). I would think that a few facts are
uncontentious:
1) To create good documentation, you need writing skills (including,
but not limited to, being able to structure facts, to acquire facts, to
write readably and understandably in the language of choice).
2) You need to have a certain amount of knowledge on the subject at the
time when you write (which is usually not the time when you start the
job). The exact amount varies from job to job.
3) The more you know about the subject matter, the better it is, all
other things being equal.
4) You need to be able to understand the needs of the users of the
documentation well enough so that you can present the subject matter in
a way that makes sense to them and helps them do whatever they need to
do.
If the above statements are accepted, it seems fairly pointless to
argue about whether you need to be an 'expert' to write about anything,
especially since there is no common understanding on what exactly an
'expert' is.
It seems also fairly pointless to argue abstractly about exactly how
much subject matter knowledge you need, since this is different from
case to case - as has become obvious from the different experiences
reported in this discussion.
It appears to me that the major part of the discussion does not involve
any real examination of the issue at all, but participants battling
over definitions and insisting on their personal experiences being more
indicative of the 'real' requirements of a writer.
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