Re: This too is technical communication

Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
From: "Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:41:32 -0400

>"Personally, I think we as technical communicators have a greater
>obligation to ensure that our methodologies are efficient and up to date,
>which will have a direct and far greater impact on the profitibility of the
>company, than taking minutes or otherwise leveraging our communication
>skills outside of the product documentation domain. "

While I agree with what you are saying, in the case of my present company,
we are small and our methodologies, while maybe not the ones you are
speaking of, are efficient and I am able to keep my documentation up to
date. This is what frees me to do other things in the company when
asked...including, at times, taking minutes. I take great pride in my
documentation, which was listed as one of the biggest improvements by our
major customer last year; however I am also proud that I make myself
available for other things in the company as well. You might be surprised
that taking notes in meetings and helping out with marketing...only works to
improve my manuals and other product documentation. This might not be true
in every case...but it is in mine.

I think sometimes on this list, we do not value the differences in each
others positions enough. I, for one, find it fascinating and endlessly
informative to find out how different each of our positions are from one
another.

Happy Friday!

Melissa



>From: Troy Klukewich To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Subject: Re: This too
>is technical communication Date: Fri, 1 Jun 2007 10:06:58 -0700 (PDT)
>
>
>Technical writing dates back at least as far as Vitruvius' "De
>Architectura." How is it starting to mature only now?
>
>
>Working for larger companies for some years now, what I've seen in all
>cases is that acquisitions of smaller companies include documentation and
>infrastructure with remarkably inefficient and inconsistent processes going
>back many years. Once these documentation architectures are brought up to
>scale with international markets included, they prove to be unecessarily
>expensive. Though the content had been around for many years, the content
>infrastructure was hardly mature.
>
>More mature documentation groups have consistent, efficient processes that
>scale well and handle rapid expansion into international markets. In my
>experience in the software industry, maturity is forced on documentation
>organizations only after their legacy infrastructure proves too expensive
>to scale and localize, limiting sales and profits. Call it evolution under
>duress.
>
>What I'm seeing now in the larger companies is an increase in ERP-like
>thinking applied to documentation and infrastructure, including increased
>implementations of batch-oriented systems like DITA with CMS for large
>scale content domains. Really, many of the principles that are being
>applied to documentation only in the last few years are a result of
>developments in software many years ago, like object oriented design (DITA
>for doc now) and ERP lifecycle management (CMS as applied to doc).
>
>If I were to start building a documentation architecture for a smaller
>company today, I would still build it on the exact same principles as the
>larger companies to ensure scalability and expansion into international
>markets in the future, assuming of course that we're talking about a
>growing, sucessful company with a future.
>
>Personally, I think we as technical communicators have a greater obligation
>to ensure that our methodologies are efficient and up to date, which will
>have a direct and far greater impact on the profitibility of the company,
>than taking minutes or otherwise leveraging our communication skills
>outside of the product documentation domain.
>
>Our ancient, inconsistent practices have already costed many companies many
>millions of dollars when brought up to scale in international markets. I
>see this as a sign of immaturity in our industry as a whole. I still see
>that desktop publishing methodologies that are gaurenteed to cause problems
>with scale and localization are more commonplace than methodologies that do
>not. Though, this is slowly changing.
>
>Troy
>
>----- Original Message ---- From: Dan Goldstein To:
>techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 10:42:52 AM
>Subject: RE: This too is technical communication
>
>
>Technical writing dates back at least as far as Vitruvius' "De
>Architectura." How is it starting to mature only now?
>
> > -----Original Message----- > From: Troy Klukewich > Sent: Wednesday, May
>30, 2007 12:05 PM > To: TECHWR-L > Subject: Re: This too is technical
>communication > > ... To some degree, the field is starting to mature only
> > now as a formal discipline...
>
>
>This message contains confidential information intended only for the use of
>the addressee(s). If you are not the addressee, or the person responsible
>for delivering it to the addressee, you are hereby notified that reading,
>disseminating, distributing, copying, electronic storing or the taking of
>any action in reliance on the contents of this message is strictly
>prohibited. If you have received this message by mistake, please notify
>us, by replying to the sender, and delete the original message immediately
>thereafter. Thank you.
>
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
>printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
>Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
>http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
>
>Now shipping: Help & Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor, full
>Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up to 106
>languages with Help & Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com
>
>--- You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as tklukewich -at- sbcglobal -dot- net -dot-
>
>To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com or visit
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/tklukewich%40sbcglobal.net
>
>
>To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
>printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
>Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
>http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList
>
>Now shipping: Help & Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor, full
>Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up to 106
>languages with Help & Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com
>
>--- You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com -dot-
>
>To unsubscribe send a blank email to
>techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com or visit
>http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/melmis36%40hotmail.com
>
>
>To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
>
>Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
>http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.
>


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Create HTML or Microsoft Word content and convert to Help file formats or
printed documentation. Features include support for Windows Vista & 2007
Microsoft Office, team authoring, plus more.
http://www.DocToHelp.com/TechwrlList

Now shipping: Help &amp; Manual 4 with RoboHelp(r) import! New editor,
full Unicode support. Create help files, web-based help and PDF in up
to 106 languages with Help &amp; Manual: http://www.helpandmanual.com

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info.


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: Re: "Disable the User"
Next by Author: RE: This too is technical communication
Previous by Thread: RE: This too is technical communication
Next by Thread: Re: This too is technical communication


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads