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Subject:RE: Getting that info From:Sarah Blake <sarah -dot- blake -at- arieso -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com >> TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 5 Mar 2013 11:54:22 -0500
Anne Robotti wrote:
> At one job I discovered so many bugs, weirdnesses, and unexpected results in the software they gave me a QA login so I could log issues directly. And I was really proud of that.
> I banged on it 'til it broke, over and over.
At one job I wrote a surprising number of QA's standard automated tests. I've often found that in companies where it's hard to get access to the software, QA are willing to let me poke their version as long as I file a bug report when I find a new way to break it.
In general, I find that QA and docs are natural allies; both of us, when faced with a statement of 'do X', immediately do Y instead to find out what happens :)
Sarah Blake
Technical Writer
Arieso Ltd
Office +44 (0) 1635 232470 | Fax +44 (0) 1635 232471 |
Email sarah -dot- blake -at- arieso -dot- com | Web www.arieso.com |
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+sarah -dot- blake=arieso -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+sarah -dot- blake=arieso -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Anne Robotti
Sent: 05 March 2013 06:27
To: Editor in Chief
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com >> TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Getting that info
I've found that developers find it reassuring that I come to them with specific questions about the behavior of the software, *after* I've read the available documentation and even the marketing materials. I like the big picture. "What are we telling the end users it does? What are they going to want to do with it? What are all the things that might happen when they try to do that?" I don't always write it all, but I like to know it.
Real interest in the software goes a long way toward getting time with the developer - once they realize I'm not going to waste their time, they're usually happy to talk about the specifics of their work.
Anne
> On Sun, Mar 3, 2013 at 11:53 PM, William Sherman
> <bsherman77 -at- embarqmail -dot- com>wrote:
>
> > [...]After all, being a TECHNICAL writer means I should learn and
> > understand the technical aspects, not just write what some person
> > told me to write.
>
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