RE: This too is technical communication

["Ladonna Weeks" <ladonna -dot- weeks -at- comtrak -dot- com>]

I wasn't objecting, just musing. 

When I first started working in IT in the early '80s I used to
tell the programmers to write prompts that their mothers could
understand. That was legitimate then because some people were
having their first interactions with computers. At that time, I
did technical training for customers who bought our product and
about 75% of my students had never used any computer when our
product was introduced. In 25 short years, a huge percentage of
the population has used computers so referring to parents or even
grandparents as examples of naïve users is no longer valid! How
quickly things change these days! 


Ladonna Weeks
ladonna -dot- weeks -at- comtrak -dot- com
314-895-7674
cell: 314-210-1652

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Starr [mailto:mike -at- writestarr -dot- com] 
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 12:58 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: This too is technical communication

And that's why I put the disclaimer in there. I have an enormous
respect for grandparents. Hell, I'm old enough to be one.

Mike
--
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Services
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Ladonna Weeks" <ladonna -dot- weeks -at- comtrak -dot- com>
To: "'Mike Starr'" <mike -at- writestarr -dot- com>;
<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 12:31 PM
Subject: RE: This too is technical communication

>I bet a fair number of people on this list are grandparents. I
am! :-)
>
>
> Ladonna Weeks
> ladonna -dot- weeks -at- comtrak -dot- com
> 314-895-7674
> cell: 314-210-1652
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mike Starr [mailto:mikestarr-techwr-l -at- writestarr -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 3:57 PM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
>
> I'm not trying to write documentation for clueless idiots but I
may 
> adopt the persona of one when interviewing a subject matter
expert or 
> testing a software product. It's a whole lot easier for me to
tell an 
> engineer to explain something to me the same way they'd explain
it to 
> a high-school dropout forklift driver (I sometimes say to
explain 
> things to me like they'd explain them to their grandmother but
please 
> don't infer from that that I believe all grandmothers are
clueless 
> idiots). I then tell the engineer that I may ask some really
stupid 
> questions but they're not because I'm stupid or because I want
to 
> create documentation for the stupid... I merely want to ferret
out all 
> the little details of information that engineers tend to forget
they 
> know because they've never had to explain their work to someone

> without their extensive background knowledge. I also tell them
that I 
> need to know things at the kindergarten level so that I can
understand 
> them well enough to explain them to my real audience.
>
> For me, the short explanation I give to some folks is that I'm
a 
> "professional clueless idiot". It's also particularly helpful
in 
> delivering a brief synopsis of a major aspect of my job to
someone 
> who's never even heard of a technical writer. I don't need to
go into 
> detail about how I dance with cascading style sheets or
manipulate 
> objects in an integrated development environment (these things
added 
> to forestall the respondents who'll say "but wait, there's more
to 
> what we do than that!). I also sometimes say that I translate 
> "engineer" into "human".
>
> Mike
> --
> Mike Starr                            WriteStarr Information
> Services
> Technical Writer   -   Online Help Developer   -    Website
> developer
> Graphic Designer    -    Desktop Publisher   -       MS Office
> Expert
> Phone: (262) 694-1028 - Tollfree: (877) 892-1028 - Fax:(262)
> 697-6334
> Email: mike -at- writestarr -dot- com      -      Web:
> http://www.writestarr.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
> To: "John Posada" <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com>;
<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2007 3:27 PM
> Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
>
>> Same here.  The ability to employ technical knowledge and past

>> experience to predict what a "clueless idiot" will and will
not
> know,
>> need to know, or be able to comprehend is a level of
capability
> that
>> is significantly higher than just being able to think like
one.
>>
>> Gene Kim-Eng
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "John Posada" <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com>
>>
>>> I reject this whole "clueless idiot" position.
>>>
>>> Being a professional technical writer means you have the
skill
> to
>>> write your document as best as you know how. It has nothing
to
> do
>>> with writing a document because you know too much, not enough
> or just
>>> the right amount.
>>>
>>> It also means that you know how to get the right information
> from the
>>> subject matter experts. The amount of information you already
> know
>>> has nothing to do it. The skill is an interviewing skill, not
> whether
>>> you are clueless or not.
>>>
>>> Any stance that maintains that the correct technical level of
> the
>>> document is achieved because of any factor other than knowing
> how to
>>> is absurd.
>
>
> 


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