RE: A technique to get on development's good side

Subject: RE: A technique to get on development's good side
From: "Joe Malin" <jmalin -at- tuvox -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 13 May 2005 10:17:47 -0700


My assumption is that everyone in an organization has a responsibility
to help the organization succeed. Many different areas contribute to
product design, including engineering, marketing, manufacturing,
finance, sales, tech support, and technical writing. This is
particularly true in software, and even more so in a small company like
mine.

If a company came to me and said that it didn't know what information it
had to provide to its prospective customers, and that it would be my job
to tell them, then I'd say "sure!" Because that is, in some sense, what
happened with the company that I work for now.

Perhaps this has to do with experience and comfort levels. I've worked
in the computer business since the mid-1970s. I think that maybe I have
seen a few good ideas and a few bad ones. That's all I contribute,
really. I also know the benefit of well-written documentation.

In closing, I will share a story about marketing and engineering
dictating the product and the documentation:

Ever wonder how the IBM Selectric typewriter was invented?

A secretary at IBM was in charge of entering data into a computer. She
punched the data into punch cards, and then typed it all over again on a
typewriter so that people could read it; this was in the days of green
bar 11x17 "accounting" computer paper.

She went to some engineers she knew and suggested that they should come
up with a machine that could put the data into the computer *and* type
it at the same time. This meant capturing the signals from the
typewriter keys and translating them into digital information. She
helped them design the typewriter, and was on the patent that IBM filed.
The Selectric was a breakthrough digital input device, and is the direct
ancestor of the keyboard you are using today.



-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-216553 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-216553 -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Gene
Kim-Eng
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 9:23 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: A technique to get on development's good side


I work hard to squash this assumption whenever it arises, especially
from any of my writers. Documentation is part of the product, and the
person producing it is part of the product development team, with the
responsibility of working to accomplish the product's goals, on time to
support the product release schedule and within budget.

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