know your ... who?

[Ned Bedinger]

McLauchlan, Kevin wrote:
> Anyway, I asked my original question because somewhere in the vast
> middle ground of writerly experience and access to users, people have
> tips and tricks and sources that some of us might not have considered,
> and I'd seen the mantra one time too many since last week.   :-)

Anyway, the mantra is lifted from a larger context, a sutra if you must, 
that describes the whole back and forth between writer and user. The 
user must know the writer, too.

The fact that you can write the docs without knowing the user, and the 
user can use the docs without knowing you, is a testimony to the power 
of abstraction. If the details of the abstract user have been 
anticipated and built into the product by omniscient engineers or added 
later by empathic translators, you've got a charmed job.

If the support lines aren't ringing because your docs led to smoked 
machines, it sounds like you can relax and enjoy the ride :-)

Ned "mantra ray"


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> Kevin
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