Re: a simple question

[Bill Burns <BillDB -at- ILE -dot- COM>]

Hey, I WROTE that! ;-)

Seriously, though, it's a horrible paragraph. The parataxis is enough to
make my butt squinch.

Consider what you will face if you do NOT explain the issues to the
client. Will you feel comfortable handing off a flawed document set to
the client? Will you be able to resist the urge to revise? Do you want
your name in any way associated with this dreck? If you want the
opportunity to make these pieces better, tell the client. Find very
clear examples. Provide justifications from style manuals and tech
writing handbooks.

If you're concerned about getting the other tech writer fired, then go
to that person first and use this as an opportunity to educate him or
her. If the tech writer isn't willing to take responsibility for the
mess, then he or she isn't the sort of person with whom you want to work
anyway.

Bill Burns
Technical Writer
ILE Communications Group
billdb -at- ile -dot- com


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Randi Figueredo [SMTP:randi -at- NWLINK -dot- COM]
> Sent: Thursday, September 11, 1997 3:29 PM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      a simple question
>
> Hi folks,
>
> I'd like to begin this e-mail by thanking each of you for many helpful
> and
> insightful posts to this list.  I've been in lurk mode for the past
> year
> and have gained much from "keeping my mouth shut" and "listening" to
> the
> experts.
>
> Well, I am now de-lurking because I have a small problem and I'm not
> sure
> how to deal with it.
>
> The situation:  I'm currently working on a short-term contract basis
> converting a tutorial, manual, and various other documentation to
> on-line
> for a small start-up company.  There is one other Tech Writer working
> here
> as well.
>
> So far I have converted only the 24 page tutorial.  The reason: There
> were
> so many punctuation, spelling, and formatting errors left by the other
> Tech Writer that I had to do a major clean-up job as I converted.  And
> yes, I was given the final draft. (I can't wait to see the 150 page
> manual
> - yea.)
>
> I mentioned to the client that there were some small problems in the
> tutorial and I'd be happy to go into the original and clean them up.
> Well, that's what I'm doing right now.  The problem is, that as I'm
> cleaning up the punctuation, spelling and formatting errors I'm also
> finding some pretty amazing grammatical errors.
>
> For example:
>
> "Republishing opens the publish screen and you need to tell
> it to find the new keyword you just assigned, so press
> the Update Keys button.  Then you will see your new
> keyword(s) listed in the keywords field of the publish
> screen, and then press Publish."
>
> This paragraph is part of a bulleted list and, thus, a step in a
> certain
> procedure.
>
> Does anyone else see something wrong with that paragraph or am I just
> being picky?
>
> If I'm not "just being picky" what would you all recommend I do about
> it?
> Do I tell the client?  Do I tell the agent who placed us both here?
> Or do
> I just keep my mouth shut and not worry about it because it's not my
> problem....although essentially it is.
>
> Suggestions? Comments? Expert Advice?
>
> Thank you in advance.
>
> Randi Figueredo
> randi -at- nwlink -dot- com
>
> ~~
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