This too is technical communication

[Ned Bedinger]

Chris Borokowski wrote:
> Technical writers link user to goal via product. This
> is where their information architecture skills come
> into play, 

I've been following this discussion and I think that Chris is expressing 
a view that technical writers have critical thinking skills in the user 
interface department and should be included in that UI design effort. I 
personally don't want any part of that battle, at least not as a 
responsibility of mine when I take short-term contract work, but I will 
sometimes write my interface comments and give them to the product 
manager as added value, something that the product team can consider in 
the next release. But go-l-l-y, I do see a lot of real bonehead 
interface design errors built into products that did not have the 
benefit of a good UI designer.

I hate to reveal my lack of currency on the subject, but I'll do it as a 
sacrifice to the hoary gods of GUI design. I've always admired Alan 
Cooper's work, a designer who had a strong sense along the lines of the 
original Macintosh UI. He also created and sold to Microsoft their first 
graphical programming environment, the one that became Visual Basic, if 
that is a familiar point of reference to tech writers.

A quick poke around on cooper.com turned up a ready bit of advice I like 
from a designer, but it is applicable for tech writers too:

http://www.cooper.com/insights/journal_of_design/articles/interview_tips.html

The first line of "Interview Tips..." by Chris Noessel rings the bell 
for me:

"Goal-Directed Design necessarily involves first-hand research with 
real-world users."

I am also taken with the first line of tip #6:

"Interview participants are often selected because of their expertise, 
and they may find it difficult to recall what it’s like /not/ to know 
their domain."

I think this is the soul of tech writing. The heart of tech writing 
(what's a sacrifice without the heart ) is, of course, that they'll have 
a hard time saying what they know, and that information won't be 
accounted for in the design unless the designer (ahem, tech writer) can 
get it out of them.

Have fun.

Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith.com