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Subject:RE: This too is technical communication From:"Condo, Candis" <ccondo -at- c-cor -dot- com> To:"Ned Bedinger" <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com>, "Caroline Tabach" <caroline -dot- tabach -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Wed, 6 Jun 2007 16:09:37 -0700
This is the same company (IBM) that back in the late 80s did a
page-by-page review of a Reference Manual I prepared for a complex
software product. The manual was a strong selling point.
I don't think any company pays that close attention to product doc
today. I have not worked for such a company in, oh, 5 years. The short
cycle environment has eliminated a lot of careful review of all aspects
of the product. Until the consumer screams big time, I don't see this
situation changing.
Candis Condo
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+ccondo=c-cor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+ccondo=c-cor -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf
Of Ned Bedinger
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 4:05 PM
To: Caroline Tabach
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
I'd bet that the quality of the result was no fluke, but is proof that
they understood the process that yields quality results. I'd guess that
the engineering work was very orderly, and the documentation proceeded
alongside of it. I agree with you that they probably did not work in
the short cycle environment that some of us work in today.
Caroline Tabach wrote:
> With all due respect,
> I bet they did not have a deadline (or at lest not the type of
> deadline we seem to work to)
> and they were probably only documenting one "application" at a time.
> Times have changed
>
> On 6/5/07, Ned Bedinger <doc -at- edwordsmith -dot- com> wrote:
>> >
>> .
>>
>> I have some typewriter repair manuals that are gems of technical
>> writing--the tech writer and illustrator created lucid overviews,
>> problem descriptions, and procedures. They obviously worked very
closely
>> with the engineers, and the engineers obviously knew how to approach
the
>> typewriter as a comprehensible bunch of systems. The editors knew the
>> subject and checked the content carefully. The book designers did an
>> exceptional job in laying out the pages, and the publishers put it
all
>> in a hole-punched lay-flat binding on paper that withstands years of
>> usage in the shop.
>>
>> .......... The manuals were a
>> big selling point in the marketing of these typewriters by a company
>> that was known as a salesman's company--I'm describing the manuals
for
>> the IBM Selectric.
>>
>>
>
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