RE: Motivation and satisfaction in technical writing

["Lisa Wright" <liwright -at- earthlink -dot- net>]

Mariana,
First of all, if you've got developers who won't read and still want to
know the subject matter you wrote about, you may be dealing with stupid
people. They are an annoyance, but don't worry about them too much. In
my experience, smart developers read a lot. Once you start working with
smart people (and I'd be working on making that happen), you will see a
change. With your customers, it is different, because the product itself
may be easy enough to use that they don't need the docs. Again, if they
need them and don't look, well, that's out of your control and you
shouldn't worry about it.

My primary motivation comes from a couple of things. The first is that
*I* place an inherent value on writing. I believe that it is important;
because it is a core belief it doesn't get battered when some schmuck
blathers on about how docs are not needed, or swears up and down that no
one reads the help. You actually have proof that some people DO read the
help! Be glad of that.

My second motivation comes from the fact that I like to figure out how
these systems work, write about it, and present it even if people think
it's hard to do. What can I say, I'm a geek. :-) Basically, I like what
I do.

Third, someone hired me to do a job. That means they value what I do
enough to pay for it. Sometimes the people you actually have to deal
with day-to-day don't value your work, and that can be hard. But someone
was willing to pony up. I've got a great gig right now. Literally every
person in this small company, when I was taken 'round to be introduced,
said, "Welcome! We're very excited to have you here. We really need
you."

There are many products, especially consumer ones, that don't need much
documenting at all. This is a reality. Good interface design and
increased familiarity means there's not as much need. Mark Baker made
some good points in the last few weeks about where tech writers are
needed in the future and where not. I think his premise is basically
sound and it's something to think about in terms of considering where to
work so that you *are* valued. Interface documentation just scratches
the surface. There are lots of areas in software development where you
are hardly concerned with the interface, and that's where you can get
into some really fun--highly technical but fun--documentation. 

Lisa 

-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-53104 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-53104 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com] On Behalf Of Mariana
Prusorova
Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 2:10 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Motivation and satisfaction in technical writing



It would be interesting in what the techwriters find their motivation
for 
working so hard? Please, share some ideas.
In software development particularly, the latest trends are for "zero 
learning" - interfaces are so easy to navigate that the users don't need
to 
read any documents. The usability test in our company also proved that
only 
about 5% are refering to the help or printed documentation of any kind.
As a freshman in the branch (2 years) I am starting to loose my
motivation - 
for whome am I acually writing?
I waist my time writing whitepapers for my colleagues from development 
departments, then they come to me asking: "Please explain me how it
works, I 
know that you know it you have written about it probably.., and you
know, I 
don't feel like reading whitepapers"


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