Re: Honestly -- when an SME completely REWRITES your text ... GEEZ!

Subject: Re: Honestly -- when an SME completely REWRITES your text ... GEEZ!
From: "Kathleen MacDowell" <kathleen -at- writefortheuser -dot- com>
To: "technical writing plus" <doc-x -at- earthlink -dot- net>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:58:38 -0500

I might be misreading the situation, but is it possible that the
person just felt it was easier to explain the important points by
writing it than trying to explain it to you? Based on my own
experience, I'd see if I could review the content with the person to
make sure that I understood exactly what they intended. When I've done
this, it's often occurred that I didn't understand the topic
completely, BUT, more importantly, the SME had left out some critical
information, because he or she didn't realize it was necessary, and/or
thought it was "obviously" implied. Those instances have been huge
pluses for the users, because the docs were improved immensely. It
often was hard to do, 'cause though my SMEs were great, they were very
busy, sometimes tetchy (and very tired of my questions). And yes,
sometimes it's hard not to take it personally, but do your best not to
be on the defensive.

Good luck,

Kathleen

On Thu, Oct 16, 2008 at 10:28 AM, technical writing plus
<doc-x -at- earthlink -dot- net> wrote:
> No it has not happened to me yet, but I would think that this ought to be a
> common writer-ly anecdote.
>
> I'd go with your 'grateful' reason and here is why. If this happens to me,
> then I concludes that I do not really know what the person's motivations
> might be and this 'appreciate the assistance' response would be the safest
> and most gracious way of reacting to the person's gaffe. And it is a gaffe
> -- it certainly is a kind of wrongdoing that is related to the person not
> minding his or her manners. Perhaps it was unintentional, I would not know.
>
> I'd take the entire episode as an excuse to start a friendly relationship
> with the person. Most definitely I would not say anything that pointed out
> the gaffe -- even if the person were to ask me something painfully direct
> like 'Was it not OK for me to point out your writing errors in the meeting?
> Didn't you like my honesty and directness?'
>
> Let the person figure out for him or her own self, over time, that perhaps
> the behavior was untoward. And if he or she never figures it out? Well, that
> is life in the business world.
>
> But I'd say make friends with the person and take care to let him or her
> down very gently when it comes time to say 'Sorry but we cannot use your
> rewrite in the document.' You can even use the text itself as an excuse for
> starting a discussion.
>
> Jim Jones zxlat.translatorscafe.com
>
> -----Original Message-----
> The other day, I held a document review meeting, and one of the SMEs
> told me I needed to rewrite the description of a particular function to
> clarify it. Okay, fair enough. I rewrite the passages (and made various
> other revisions from the meeting) and sent out the revised text to
> everyone. I got an email back from this particular SME this morning in
> which he completely rewrite the function description for me. I'm not
> sure whether to be
>
> - Grateful to him for trying to be helpful.
>
> - Angry with him for not keeping his place and trying to usurp my role.
> Hey, I'M the writer.
>
> - Insulted, because he's decided I can't write. Rather than telling me
> the passage heeds further clarification, he's thrown up his hands and
> just said, "Looks like I need to write this for him."
>
> One thing's for sure -- what he wrote does NOT conform to our
> departmental style.
>
> How would you take it -- and has anything like this happened to any of
> you?
>
> (And I'm going to check the "To" filed in this email very carefully
> before sending it. I've made the mistake several times recently of
> sending messages to the list that were meant for someone else. It would
> be just my luck, that I would send this message meant for the list to
> the SME by mistake.)...
>
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
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--
Kathleen MacDowell
www.writefortheuser.com
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

ComponentOne Doc-To-Help gives you everything you need to author and
publish quality Help, Web, and print content. Perfect for technical
authors, developers, and policy writers. Download a FREE trial.
http://www.componentone.com/DocToHelp/

True single source, conditional content, PDF export, modular help.
Help & Manual is the most powerful authoring tool for technical
documentation. Boost your productivity! http://www.helpandmanual.com

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References:
Honestly -- when an SME completely REWRITES your text ... GEEZ!: From: Downing, David
RE: Honestly -- when an SME completely REWRITES your text ... GEEZ!: From: technical writing plus

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