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In other words, work hard and learn your product. It usually requires that
you make a nuisance of yourself in development meetings, QA meetings etc, by
asking questions--not just what it does, but why it does it. Then you go one
step further by offering your assistance to help design or write specs, test
plans, whatever it takes. And in the end it's always worth it. For proof,
here's the text of a message I just got about 20 minutes ago from a lead
developer for whom I did 8 UI designs in the last two days:
"These look great! When you do these, do you mock up an html doc or a gif?
If it is an html doc it would be very beneficial to the guys developing
**(secret new function)** to be able to get their hands on those."
Gist of it is, now that I've developed the basic UI for the function, when
it goes to testing, it'll take me about 25% of the time it normally would to
write the help and the user manual sections covering the function.
-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Plato [mailto:intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 12, 2000 12:24 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Re: Importance of Technical Writing
"Sona Mehta" wrote ...
>
> Hello friends,
> Please do forgive me if I am starting a discussion on the often beaten
> topic, but I cannot resist myself. I need your help. I want to know how
> do I try and explain the importance of the work I do to a group of
> non-receptive developers who think of TWs as 'glorified typists'. I have
> been in this profession for sometime now and I feel that quiet a few
> developers don't know much about this profession and therefore don't
> give much importance to it. I thought of giving a presentation to the
> developers in my office, telling them about TW in general. Any
> ideas?????? Do you think this will be a good start?
The only way people will see tech writers as more than typists is when tech
writers actually DO more than type. Engineers need to see that you can
digest
complex technical issues and add value to their products. I cannot speak for
all companies, but by and large places where tech writers are treated like
crap
is usually because the tech writers cower in their cubicles and never once
make
an effort to get involved with the technical aspects of the project.
