Information Engineers

[Brian Henderson]

> -----Original Message----- From: Gause_Brian at emc.com
>
> The title "Technical Writer" was always a bit misleading. A good writer
> is not necessarily a good Technical Writer.
>
> Brian Gause


I haven't followed this thread closely, so forgive me if I'm treading an overly worn path here...

One thing that finally allowed me to see my profession more clearly was the realization that technical writing isn't so much
"writing" as it is "tool manufacture". "Writing" a tool is not about telling a story, being witty or interesting, or engendering
emotion in the reader. It's not about the pleasure of reading, and unless you're lucky (or rather odd) it's not about the pleasure
of writing either. It's about being precise, concise, brief, consistent, abrupt. It's about being to-the-point...nearly to the point
of rudeness. It's about being cold, hard, and lifeless...and deathly dull. Because anything else interferes with the idea of the
tool. When was the last time you bought a pen because it was complicated or interestingly shaped. Or because it looked fun (OK...you
bought it for your collection, but not to USE). Tech writing is about helping the tool user to be fast and efficient, and focused on
anything BUT the writing.

Of course, the reality of technical writing is somewhat less than the extreme position I've taken here. But I often take it to this
extreme when talking to relatively inexperienced writers because so many of them don't really get it. You can say to someone, "Tech
writing isn't 'creative writing'" and the response will be, "Of course isn't". But the truth is that it's difficult to subsume one's
ego well enough to avoid the temptation to be inappropriately "creative".

I work in an office with forty some-odd tech writers and the overwhelming majority of the problems I see are due to writers who "do
their own thing". Either because they're bored, or think they have a better idea. But mostly because they just don't understand the
nature of the work, and that individuality is not part of the job description. That being truly creative consists in condensing a
complex reality into it's simplest verbal algorithm. And that ain't easy.


Brian Henderson
Mitchell Repair Information Co.
San Diego, CA

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