"Know thy audience"; was: RE: What is "well Written"?

[Ned Bedinger]

Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> Some of my worst experiences as a manager have been the result of
> technical writers trying to be "creative" instead of being consistent
> and just following the specs and style guides. 
That may be true, but it isn't because creativity isn't called for in 
tech writing. I don't want to get caught up in a lot of specious 
analogies between tech writing and creative endeavors, because that's 
not what I mean by design or creativity in tech writing. We have to be 
creative in foolproof wording, for example. We're on guard against the 
pitfalls where users can misunderstand, and we design solutions. This 
isn't optional ornamentation or anything notably sensory-aesthetic, just 
part of our job.

>  Generally, whenever
> my work requires creativity it's usually to try to fix something that
> someone did wrong.  As a writer, I would describe myself and those 
> who do the best work for me as a bunch of very efficient people who
> are happy to be hacks.

Yep, most who wants to be artists probably goes to art school, but 
certainly some few of them gravitate to industrial design and other 
pursuits where they cross paths with engineering. But anyway, 
artististic sensibilities aren't anathma to tech writing. I don't know 
any aspiring or frustrated artists who turned to technical writing for a 
career, and I wouldn't recommend they do so, but I recognize the role of 
design and creativity in tech writing. Someone with well-developed 
skills in those departments could do very well.


Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith.com