Re: TW and/or information designer? (was: Really caring about communication)

[cchris -at- toptechwriter -dot- us]

> Another analogy for tech writing:
> 
> Your boss drops you off by yourself on a muddy construction site with a
> gaping crater where the foundation is already dug. He hands you a rolled-up
> blueprint and says "Here's the plans for the second floor - just get started
> and do the best you can. We'll drop off the plans for the first floor
> later.... I'll drive by every Tuesday (unless I have another more important
> meeting) and you can run alongside the car and shout questions at me."
> 
> Mike O.

And lest you think Mike is exaggerating...

--My first job as a tech writer back in the 80s was with TRW on a project
so classified that for the first year only three of the 16 writers on
staff actually knew what was being documented! The managers went so far in
pursuit of complete security that they wouldn't let us use typewriters or
word processors--it was pencils and huge amounts of wite-out to compose a
10-volume set of 300-page MIL standard manuals. Secretaries and
illustrators had to take our scribblings and create the camera-ready copy
in secure vaults, but we made the deadline and everything validated
properly. That job was so bizarre that nothing has surprised or daunted me
since.

--When working at Hughes, I was assigned to write an installation manual
for a commercial truck tracking system that communicated via satellite. I
was supposed to watch the installer do his thing and write it up on my
Osborne transportable. When I got to Nebraska, it turned out the customer
was severely pissed off because the system didn't work and we were behind
on the installations. So I ended up doing installations during the day and
writing at night. Exhaustion made us punch-drunk toward the end: we
installed one system and forgot to leave slack in the wiring harness so
when they pivoted the tractor cab up to get at the engine, it snapped the
harness--comical in retrospect but not funny at the time. That project
cost me every white shirt I had, yet when I wrote and illustrated the
manual it won an award.

I'm sure most tech writers who document hardware can tell similar tales.

Happy New Year!

Chris
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