Re: A newbie question relevant to recent discussions on the divide between engineers and writers

["Dana Worley" <dana -at- campbellsci -dot- com>]

On Friday, May 13, 2005, Barbara G. Devney, Ph. D. wrote: 

> For your convenience I have attached the form to this email.
> 
> Mr. Becraft your responsibility is for Nos. 5, 8, 11, 12 and 13
> 
> Mr. Barbe you have Nos. 1, 2, 3,4, and 6.

I think telling anyone "your responsibility is..." when you are not their 
manager, could be offensive. Maybe if you reworded it to say "if you 
could help with Nos. 5, 8, ..."  In fact, the whole email seems rather 
formal and cold. Are you not on a first name basis with these folks? 
Email correspondence is typically conversational in style. These are 
your co-workers, not some faceless entity that you're 
communicating with. 

I think the only divide that exists between tech writers and engineers 
is the one people are (apparently) unknowingly creating for 
themselves. 

Dana W.  



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