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Re: The End Of Technical Writing Was RE: Re: a different resume red flag
Subject:Re: The End Of Technical Writing Was RE: Re: a different resume red flag From:TechComm Dood <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 27 Oct 2004 09:50:01 -0400
Well, tools have become more robust and complex, true. But, how you
use them and how you set up your source files and writing process
should be evolving over time as well. If the tools aren't allowing you
to be productive, IMO, it's time for an assessment of process and
infrastructure.
As for PDFs, why not create a watched folder on the network and just
have people print to file in that folder? Then there's no need for
them to fiddle with Acrobat.
On Tue, 26 Oct 2004 13:15:20 -0700, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
> I spend much more of my hands-on writing time wrestling with
> tools and formatting than I would like to. Part of this is because
> I'm only getting to spend something like 15% of my time doing
> hands-on doc work (most of my time is spent managing projects,
> internal processes, personnel and budget issues, etc., etc), and
> most of that is centered on developing the rough doc outlines
> for new product types and jumping in when necessary to make
> some minor last-minute change to a document we thought was
> done because the original writer is now on a new project. I also
> have every non-writer in the company who needs help with making
> a PDF or hunting down information in the document control system
> coming to me (again, because it would be too distracting for the
> writers to have to field these calls for help while they're dogging
> engineers for input or trying to beat a revenue deadline). I'm quite
> certain that because of this my hands-on skills with FrameMaker
> have eroded quite a bit from my individual contributor days.
> However, it also seems to me that some of the previous tools I
> used at the time (such as Interleaf, RoboHelp in the winhelp days,
> and even Word 2.0) were a helluva lot less of a pain to work with
> than the ones we're using now and took a lot less of the time writers
> should be spending on research and other work than they do today.
> Or maybe I've just advanced into the curmudgeonly phase of life.
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