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Re: Technical Writing and the Business Perspective
Subject:Re: Technical Writing and the Business Perspective From:"Chuck Martin" <cm -at- writeforyou -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 24 Oct 2003 13:40:56 -0700
"Goober Writer" <gooberwriter -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote in message news:217579 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
>
> > But isn't making the customer happy one of the
> > fundamental tenets of good bbusiness?
>
> It certainly is. But, you're assuming that this can
> all fall on docs' shoulders, where in reality, it is
> not uncommon to supplement good docs (not
> all-encompassing docs) with good training and support.
> And, many companies do shell out for the extra help.
>
But statements such as this reinforce the notion that all we do is write
docs. While that stereotype continues to be perpetuated in the minds of many
managers, it's not really true.
Documentation is inherent in the design of any product: the design itself
communicates. A well-designed product with a bad manual is far, far superior
to a badly designed product with a stellar manual.
How much market share would a company capture if their message is something
along the lines of "Our product does at least everything our competitors do
and it costs no more than our competitors, but its design means you won't
have to spend extra money on training nor will your employees spend as much
time calling technical support, so they will be more productive, quicker?"
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