"Design" was Re: Tech Writing a Growing Field?

[Gene Kim-Eng]

I think the idea that tech writers are somehow better able
to understand and map design processes that those who
actually do the design is a reach, or possibly something
that just works in the software industry.  Having been on 
both sides of the design/documenting process at various
times in my working life, there is no way that a writer
was ever going to understand my process for designing
a planetary gear train, and a tech writer would most
certainly *not* have been the "test case" for my design
for a rocket igniter safe/arm device.  Tech writers can
certainly have a part to play in helping people who know
something impart what they know to others, but being
able to organize and transfer knowledge about a 
product is not the same as being able to develop the
product itself. 

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ned Bedinger" <doc at edwordsmith.com>

> Chris Borokowski wrote:
>> Technical writers as
>> articulators can make sense of the design process, and
>> distill it to a logical map. They can refine this map
>> in a way that people caught in the trenches of
>> marketing, development or user testing cannot. 
 
> I think this point of yours harks to tech writer manifestos that want us 
> to be integrated into the full product development cycle. I need to 
> steep in a project to become an integral part of the design process. I 
> do subscribe to the theory and practice of long-term project membership 
> for tech writers (even when it means working in the crossfire of 
> marketing, development, and testing), but I think the design analysis 
> functions you mention (making sense of design process, distilling it 
> into logical maps) don't fit with the documentation role.

> So, in this framework, I wonder if you are saying that tech writers 
> should try to drive the requirements and design phases because we're the 
> test case--if we can't find the information needed to understand the 
> product and project, then something is wrong and needs to be fixed first?

> Sometimes it seems like I'm in the catbird's seat--I do have a lot of 
> experience, can provide useful insights, and can ask penetrating 
> questions--but as the writer I do not have all the facts, and I don't 
> have the engineering background, and even if I had both I would probably 
> not come up with the same solution as the other members who have the 
> facts and training.