TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE: "Technical Writing as a Part of User Experience"
Subject:RE: "Technical Writing as a Part of User Experience" From:Slager Timothy J <Timothy -dot- Slager -at- dematic -dot- com> To:Jack DeLand <jackdeland -at- adamcharlesconsulting -dot- com> Date:Wed, 23 May 2018 16:22:26 +0000
Oh, I agree with you here. And sometimes people do (or buy donuts).
If I didnât like cookies, I wouldnât bake them for others.
From: Jack DeLand [mailto:jackdeland -at- adamcharlesconsulting -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2018 4:30 PM
To: Slager Timothy J
Cc: Keith Hood; Caroline Tabach; TechWhirl (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)
Subject: Re: "Technical Writing as a Part of User Experience"
Dude, if it works for you, that's fine. But as a professional interacting with other professionals, I think it's time Dev baked US some d*mn cookies.
On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 4:27 PM, Slager Timothy J <Timothy -dot- Slager -at- dematic -dot- com<mailto:Timothy -dot- Slager -at- dematic -dot- com>> wrote:
I donât find it particularly depressing. I tell myself Iâm being innovative. â (And, by the way, it doesnât take too many times of their seeing what I mean before I get some respect.)
Oh, and on a critical project, I once motivated warring parties to agree by bringing fresh-baked cookies, opening the container so we could smell them, and promising to share them after we all signed off.
We all want to protect our territory at times; they arenât bad people. Could they be more sensible? Sure. But I wouldnât give up a good job because a few people donât appreciate my input.
Subject: Re: "Technical Writing as a Part of User Experience"
Well, that's depressing, Tim. Reminds me of the "bring your developers some cookies" argument. We are professionals at what we do and part user advocate/part UI dev/part a hundred other things Software Dev never thinks of. I've studied and improved UI for 20 years but always found the resistance in companies I worked for to be very high. It IS territorial. My solution was to stop working for companies that didn't appreciate my efforts. Maybe we should all do that. Eh whot?
Jack DeLand
On Tue, May 22, 2018 at 3:58 PM, Slager Timothy J <Timothy -dot- Slager -at- dematic -dot- com<mailto:Timothy -dot- Slager -at- dematic -dot- com>> wrote:
Yeah, that doesn't work very well. I find it more effective to go and ask a lot of stupid questions: "I don't understand this. Do you mean this or that?" "Why is this field labeled differently from (or the same as) that one?" "What does this mean?"
When they explain it to you, they sometimes provide good answers. Other times they go, "Hmm, I see what you mean." Then you kid them about not knowing who they are designing for, being too smart for their own good, and making usable interfaces. Sometimes that gets results; sometimes not.
tims
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Visit TechWhirl for the latest on content technology, content strategy and content development | http://techwhirl.com
