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Chris, I think we broadly agree on the fact that technical writers CAN and
possibly SHOULD have a good understanding of other processes and areas of
the company.
But don't use the word pigeonholed, please. Many of the developers and QA
engineers I've worked with are perfectly capable of understanding the
business reasons behind why we are doing X and not Y, and why X is being
done in a particular way. As a team we get together and discuss the product.
The product can be influenced by anyone in the team. Once we understand what
the product is at every level that everyone in the team needs, then we break
out and focus on our own jobs (with regular contact of course).
Pigeonholing is a management level idea, and in my experience (in software
companies) it doesn't reflect the true working practises, you know, the ones
that are never written down. If it did, the company is doomed. Throwing work
over the wall from one dept. to another is NOT a good way to do things.
Ultimately I 'lean' into other areas to help my do my job better. My job is
to create documentation.
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: 25 July 2007 22:41
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: The coming predominance of user experience
andtechnicalcommunications
That's one reason to love this job: we get the strategic level view, since
we're thinking in terms of user function over the life of product
development, where everyone else gets pigeonholed more efficiently.
--- Eric Dunn <dunn -dot- eric -dot- l -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> By the time that a decent techwriter reaches the last question, they
> usually have an "if I were God" scenario plotted out as to how the
> exact same function could be implemented eliminating possible
> confusion and error, streamlining the process, and eliminating the
> need for complex explanation to the user.
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