Guess what: we suck!

[Chris Borokowski]

I don't disagree with all of the following:

"When you have to look in five different places to find the answer to
how to do one simple process, something's wrong. It's your tech
writers. No, I don't care if you've helpfully given another 5-10 links
in a Help topic or a reference in a manual to where one can find more;
that's stupid. It should be in the same spot. Computers are supposed to
be about efficiency, remember? Instead, use some of those much-vaunted
brains and hire some folks who are professionals at writing manuals and
textbooks, like college professors who've done similar and so on, and
have them write the manuals. People are going to have to buy a book
with actual step-by-step lessons, or take a class in how to do things
anyway, and you're idiots who are losing a ton of money by thinking
tech writing = normal people learning. No. It doesn't. "

I don't think the solution is to stop hiring technical writers, but
maybe it is to raise the bar on technical writer standards and the
struggle to get information from SMEs. Technical writing can clearly be
improved. Most manuals I read are somewhere from awful to mediocre. I
can't blame the profession, because that's like saying that all humans
are bad because some litter, maim, smoke menthols and cheat.

--- John Cook <john.cook at gmail.com> wrote:

> Let's test that.  Convince your companies to hire college professors
> to
> write your Help and let's see how long that lasts.


http://technical-writing.dionysius.com/
technical writing | consulting | development


       
____________________________________________________________________________________
Choose the right car based on your needs.  Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool.
http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/