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I think it makes us more powerful, as we're the only
ones positioned to do this. Developers can't, as
they're constantly responding to detail needs.
Managers can't as they're dealing with business needs.
Only a technical communicator is there the whole time,
and knows the whole product.
Even more, many technical writers find themselves
dismissed when the documentation is done, sacrificing
all of that knowledge of the product which must be
built up again when they or replacements are rehired.
The future role for a technical writer is to get free
from the idea of being strictly deliverables-based
AFTER development is done. Our goal should be to
become part of the development team, and utilize our
skills for more than just text.
Perhaps I should have started that message with "In
addition to writing the User Guide, we might
consider..." but I'm too old to let politeness stand
in for realism.
> Phew.
>
> And at what point do you, you know, write stuff? ;-)
>
> I get what you are saying Chris, in a big way, but
> what you've described is
> a distinct role within itself surely? Yes "us wot
> write" need to be aware of
> such things but if we followed all that through we'd
> end up as UI or IA
> analysts... Or something like that.
>
> Hang on, are you trying to put "us wot write" out of
> a job!! ;-)
>
> Gordon
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
>
techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
> om] On Behalf Of Chris Borokowski
> Sent: 04 April 2007 14:38
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: Tech Writing a Growing Field?
>
> Good question, and I'm glad you asked. A
> user-advocate, design-centric
> viewpoint means: we start from the design principle
> of how our software will
> be used, and bypass many of the existing archetypes
> if necessary. Growth
> means escaping old paradigms, like snakes escaping
> old skins. Too often
> products are shipped based on the last generation's
> paradigm, and so put the
> users through a series of boring tasks that are
> unrelated to the actual
> goal.
>
> In another way of seeing it, every software product
> lies between two points:
> the people using it, and the goal of what it
> produces. That alone should
> influence design. Even more, sensible UI design
> dovetails with sensible
> product design in that it reduces software from
> complex options to
> task-based processes. One example might be the word
> processor, which evolved
> from the paper-layout paradigm to a
> document-containership one (some are
> evolving slower than others). Too much of software
> ignores its actual uses
> in favor of some apocryphal marketing speak, archaic
> presumptions, or most
> commonly, lack of a concept of how it would be used.
> Design-centric thinking
> gets away from this peripheral confusion.
>
> I like the term "technical communications," but in
> my mind the field is more
> than that. We're user advocates
> -- we want to simplify and make more effective every
> product we touch, and
> produce simpler and more effective documentation for
> it. Our goal is to
> destroy confusion and ambiguity. We're also UI
> creators, but too ofen, UI
> design is contingent upon quality product design --
> if the product is coded
> around the wrong processes for its intended use, or
> its design is ignorant
> of common methods, it will be awkward to use in the
> way it is most commonly
> used. Our goal is also to make sure the obscure
> users are protected; these
> are the guys doing something "slightly different" at
> 3am before a
> career-making presentation. And as people who know
> both technology and
> users, we're a bridge between product creation
> (through sensible design, and
> not passing on archaic paradigms in updated form)
> and UI creation (through
> sensible design according to the tasks for which it
> will actually be used,
> not marketing speak or archaic paradigms).
>
> The above barely says what I hoped it would, and
> it's a book in itself. I
> recommend anyone thinking along these lines to ready
> Grady Booch and
> Christopher Alexander, who are two advocates of both
> user-based and
> design-centric thinking. These topics, like data
> containership (XML, et al)
> have been with us for some time but are still at a
> nascent stage of
> development.
> My goal is to bring them together into a more
> powerful role for technical
> communicators, where we can have positive impacts on
> design and user
> experiences as well as generate usable
> documentation, which is a goal in
> itself.
>
>
> --- Gordon McLean
> <Gordon -dot- McLean -at- GrahamTechnology -dot- com>
> wrote:
>
> > Fascinating stuff and I completely agree.
> >
> > Chris - can you clarify what you mean when you say
> "user-advocate,
> > design-centric viewpoint".
> >
> > I presume you are referring to the 'non-writing'
> > parts of being a technical
> > writer, the times when you sit with the developers
> and annoy and
> > hassle them because the "user wouldn't do it like
> that"?
> >
> > It's funny reading these emails, as I've always
> presumed that the role
> > of technical writing isn't really about 'writing'
> all that much (these
> > days) and is why I've pushed to change job and
> team titles away from
> > "writing" or "publications" to "communications".
> It's a small thing,
> > but I think it breaks the "document monkeys" label
> a lot of people
> > still have in their heads.
>
>
>
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