Re: Is multi-tasking dead?

["Beckton, Jon" <jbeckton -at- MHS7 -dot- TNS -dot- CO -dot- ZA>]

Anon asked:

> Question: Is multi-tasking dead?
>
And I offer my opinion as follows:
        You would probably agree that a specialist in any field can work
faster and more efficiently due to the fact that they know their job better?
Therefore, if you have that luxury (I'm a one-person doc department and
don't) let the writers write, the editors edit and the SMEs do whatever it
is that they do. Theoretically, this should produce the goods in the
shortest time, if everyone knows their job and does it to the best of their
ability.

        I started in the days of large departments when the writers used a
pencil, the typing pool typed whatever was written, the illustrators drew
with drafting pens and stuck in cutout bromides of their pictures, the
editor edited and "cut & paste" meant just that, real scissors and a pot of
glue and not virtual ones. (Hell, I sound like my Dad!) It all seemed to
work pretty well and we produced quite large and comprehensive manual sets
for extremely complex electro-mechanical systems. There were glitches when,
for instance, the illustrator didn't draw quite what you, as a writer, had
envisioned but, on the whole, it worked well. The big advantage, to my mind,
was that you could concentrate on what you did and let the other experts
concentrate on their field of expertise, without being distracted by other
considerations.

        In today's world, we find that we have to be "all things to all men"
(or women) and, while that does add variety to the working day, flexibility
to the team and value to the resume, it must detract from the primary
purpose which is to explain complex things in a simple way. I know there are
better illustrators, layout artists, typists, et al than me so, I feel, what
the company is getting is a second-rate illustrator/typist/layout artist and
a writer writing at less than optimum.

        I guess what I'm really trying to say is, given the choice, prefer
the first but, given the reality, be the second.

Jon Beckton

jbeckton -at- mhs7 -dot- tns -dot- co -dot- za
Tel +27 11 374 6426

"I try to pay my taxes with a smile. Unfortunately, the Receiver insists on
cash.'" - James Clarke

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