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.
You wrote:
> The main point in this rambling is that we work as a team in the real
> world. As a tech writer, you have a duty to study and understand the
> product that you are documenting.
That is half the situation, yes. However, you missed mentioning that the
SMEs (in what ever industry) also have a responsibility. They need to be
able to communicate. That requires learning too.
The company where I work creates business modeling software. That means our
users are senior managers who are attempting to identify the structure of
their business, then associate that structure with SAP's R/3 System during
the reengineering of their business.
Some months back, a new menu item appeared in the build of the developing
software release -- Pure Container. There were no specifications, no
discussions, no information available about this new menu item. So, I began
asking various developers. The senior developer's comment was, "it is sort
of hard to explain". It was several developers later before I was able to
take all the pieces from each conversation to develop this concept -- for
this was a concept used to isolate a branch of a model, not coding -- enough
to identify when and why a user would select this new menu option.
Of course "Pure Container" disappeared from the menu a few weeks later. But
that is another story.
