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Subject:Re: Thoughts on Working With Developers (long) From:Jill Burgchardt <jburgcha -at- PESTILENCE -dot- ITC -dot- NRCS -dot- USDA -dot- GOV> Date:Mon, 5 Apr 1999 12:28:37 -0600
Steve English had some great ideas on training technical editors. However, he
supports one view that I've heard echoed and lamented on techwr-l several times.
Namely, that SMEs shouldn't be concerned about anything except the technical
issues in the document.
> "Thank you. These are all good observations. They are also all wrong,
> because this was a trick question, for which I humbly apologize. But
Technical edits may be what we need from them, but it does make me wonder what
kind of drafts people are expecting their SMEs to read. Typos and grammatical
errors sometimes creep into the drafts I give my SMEs. However, I try to get
rid of them as much as possible before reviews.
Trying to read a document that has too many errors is like trying to carry on a
serious conversation with someone who's wearing Groucho Marx glasses. You have
to get past the distraction before you can concentrate on the conversation. Good
communication tries to eliminate distractions/interference, whether the audience
is an end user or an SME, doesn't it?
I'm curious, how "rough" do most people consider okay when they're giving an SME
a document?
