'Old fashioned' Tech Writers

[Leo Hill <leochill -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

With some amusement I have read the thread about how
the TW profession is going to go through (endure?) a
massive change.

Additionally, how there are companies that now believe
that 'not all features have to be documented' and
there is no need for a manual because no one reads
them anyway.

Perhaps this is the way that software TW'ing is
headed, but I work for a company that manufacturers
medical devices and sells internationally.

With FDA oversight and having to meet both FDA and EU
guidelines, our written manuals are not only read by
the care provider but are scrutinized by lawyers for
any inconsistency to try and ensure that we provide
every conceivable warning for use.  Colons, commas and
other punctuation can mean the difference between
winning and losing a lawsuit.

So perhaps while the software TW's are in flux, those
of us that write manuals for machinery and actual
physical products are still plugging away making sure
that all the i's are crossed and the t's dotted along
with all the features documented.

Best,

Leo

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ROBOHELP X5: Featuring Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author
support, PDF and XML support and much more!
TRY IT TODAY at http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrl

WEBWORKS FINALDRAFT: New! Document review system for Word and FrameMaker
authors. Automatic browser-based drafts with unlimited reviewers. Full
online discussions -- no Web server needed! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l 

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.