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Subject:Re: Writer/? Relations From:Nancy Hayes <nancyh -at- PMAFIRE -dot- INEL -dot- GOV> Date:Tue, 29 Aug 1995 14:34:22 GMT
Some of the writers where I work have been writing their documents by
committee. The writing team usually consists of the writer, primary
user, and facility engineer. The team analyzes the process, then writes
the first draft. Then the procedure is reviewed by the subject matter
contacts and comments are incorporated. It seems to be working fairly
well. Some of the other writers have also worked as a team with the
subject matter contact. This "committee" effort seems to be working
fairly well. It's a little easier (notice I didn't say =easy=) to get
the non-writers to accept the writer as an equal.
From a PR standpoint, I've always found it much easier to get answers out
of the operators or engineers if they've seen me out in the field,
crawling around looking at the equipment--or if they've seen me in the
survey courses that the operators have to take.
I think anything the writer can do to narrow the them-us perspective helps.
Nancy Hayes (nancyh -at- pmafire -dot- inel -dot- gov)
