Re: Breaking into the tech writing job market

Subject: Re: Breaking into the tech writing job market
From: "Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
To: <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 07:49:06 -0700

I'm wondering why so many seem to assume that documentation that eliminates unnecessary prose and cuts quickly to information that is needed to perform a specific operation is written for a
sixth-grader...

My experience has been that most over-written documentation is
the result of writers not having sufficient technical knowledge of
the product and its users' needs to be able to look at input received
from developers with a critical eye toward what the user is really
going to require for a specific operation and cut out or move what is unnecessary.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Schmidt" <mschmidt -at- weathercentral -dot- tv>


I'm repeating what I've been taught. It's not condescending at all. The
theory is that many don't refer to the manual until they're having a
problem (myself included), and at that point, they don't want wordy,
grammatically perfect novel writing. They want: "To make it go, push the
green button."

My first boss (and mentor in this field) used to write like we was
writing a novel. Too wordy, too involved, etc. I agree that you need
simple, concise, easy-to-read steps. Hence, a 6th grade level.


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References:
RE: Breaking into the tech writing job market: From: Mike Schmidt

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