RE: Not sure if I phrased my last question appropriately

[mlist -at- safenet-inc -dot- com]

Jerry Muelver somehow came up with:
 
> Can't have certification without standards and metrics. Tech 
> writers could 
> be certified based on how much editing and rework their stuff 
> requires.

As I recall from every other iteration of the certification 
wars that I've seen over the years, the contentious issue 
has always been "Who decides?"

So, who decides that my stuff "[requires] editing and rework"?

When, during my workflow, do they make this estimation?
Does a writer get more "points" if her/his working method 
involves a single, all-or-nothing pass at writing the docs?

Many of us would lose out, there, because we make an initial 
pass with early information, then refine it several times 
before release.

I'm a single/lone writer. Do I get to grade myself for certification?

If I'm not doing it, then who?  Do I send my stuff away to some 
grading organization that doesn't know my industry, doesn't know 
the products or where they fit, has never met my audience?

Is politics expected to affect one's standing? If so, will there 
be clear instructions (written by a certified TW, no doubt) to 
all comers, on how to achieve the requisite political brownie-
points (i.e., how to effectively suck up to graders/judges)?

If not, then is it deliberately part of the proposed system 
that some TWs shall be more equal than others purely due to 
their proximity to the seat of power, or their involvement 
in certain committees (is this starting to sound like the 
US Congress??), or their visible support of certain people's 
favorite charitable causes?

If the grading of my stuff is to be done by the people who 
actually do tell me whether to rework?  In that case, you'll 
need to recruit our QA department and my local Product Verification 
manager.   Is it duly noted that sometimes they are short on time 
and just give me a pass, because they trust my work... or because 
they need to be less picky some weeks, to meet tight deadlines?

Will there be any possibility for a TW with more formalized TW-related 
education (has taken lots of impressively named courses and seminars, 
or lived in a town that had a university TW program) to receive 
better evaluation than a TW who has worked in the trenches for 
decades, knows his/her product and industry, and keeps the Customer 
Support calls to a minimum... but doesn't have a lot of fancy letters 
after her/his name?  In other words, are we to be afflicted with 
creeping credentialitis?

Yes?  Why?
No?  How not?


Kevin (TW-ish since the eighties... you know, previous century...)

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