What makes a tech writer?

Subject: What makes a tech writer?
From: Geoff Hart <Geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 1999 09:57:06 -0400

John Posada's friend had been told her that <<..."in
three hours, he could teach her everything he knew
about technical writing." My response was "He must not
know that much about tech writing." ;-)>>

I think it's still a fair statement, provided that it's a throwaway
line rather than a serious proposal; it would take a lot less
than 3 hours to list and explain all the key elements of
techwhirling. The real problem lies in the application of those
elements, not in the theory, and in how deeply you expect
someone to absorb that theory. For example, audience
analysis is easy to descibe (should take less than 5 minutes),
but it can be awfully tricky to do well.

<<"If you could describe one attribute of a person that would
indicate that they would make a good software technical
writer, what would that be?" I ... said "If you are using a
software application and you've pushed every button on the
screen to see what would happen, then you have a good
start." How far off was I?>>

Unfortunately, I'd have to say you missed the mark on this
one. (Glad to see I'm not the only one that happens to!)
You're not wrong, but there are more important things to
focus on. IMHO, what makes a good technical writer, apart
from obvious things like "must be able to write helpful and
comprehensible sentences", it would be "must be able to
empathize with the audience sufficiently to describe things in
the way the audience need to have them described, and in
sufficient detail to let them accomplish their tasks". That's a
very different sort of completeness from the type you
proposed.

--Geoff Hart @8^{)} Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"Patience comes to those who wait."--Anon.


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