RE: What is our real area of expertise?

["Thomas Quine" <quinet -at- home -dot- com>]

M. Plato writes:

Reformatting technical content into a "delivery package" isn't technical
writing. You may be able to produce some moderately useful material. But how
do
you really know you're communicating the correct information?
[Thomas Quine writes] Many technical writers don't understand how to work
with SMEs. My policy is that you get the information from the SMEs, work
your magic, and then get it checked by and verified by more SMEs. Everything
I produce is signed off on by SMEs before public consumption, and usually
also goes through usability testing as well. The last person I would count
on to validate my work is little old me...
I have a little form I give to SMEs that asks them to leave the typos, style
questions, formatting issues, packaging, etc. to me, and to verify the
technical accuracy - that I leave to them.

I had an engineer swear up and down to me last month that the reason this
web
server wasn't working because of faults in Microsoft IIS.  Had I taken this
guy
at his word - which sounded very logical - I would have documented the
installation incorrectly.  I knew something was strange so I investigated.
Relying on my Windows 2000 experience, I knew that it was more likely that
the
engineer had misconfigured the security accounts and applied them to the
wrong
directories. My investigation proved I was correct and as such I reversed
the
edits of the engineer and documented the product properly.

I could not have made this determination if I did not have a basic
understanding of security in Windows 2000. Had I just reformatted the
engineer's instructions to be clear - they would have been wrong.
[Thom Quine writes] I've also had the opposite happen to me - where I was
certain the SME was wrong, only to find out they were the SME, not I. Sorry,
I have an enquiring mind, but I don't have time to become a better SME than
the SMEs. Every instructional designer knows that adequate access to SMEs is
one of the prerequisites to a successful project. I get that in writing, and
I make sure all the players are aware that (like a good journalist) my job
is not to create original content but to collect and package existing
content (hopefully in an original way!)
Yes, you are not a SME. But failure to check the validity if information is
just a grievous an ommission as using poor grammar or inconsistent layout.
In
order to check the validity of information you need to know if something
might
be invalid. Hence, you need technical skills to make sound and reasonable
judgments about the text you're releasing as accurate.
[Thom Quine writes] Of course you need some understanding, at least enough
not to write total nonsense, but what you need more than anything else is
the SME to "check the validity of information". I think it's good advice to
a young writer never to rely on your own five-minute expertise - check the
facts with a SME, and get their signature on it so they understand it's
their content - not yours.
Imagine a journalist with your attitude.  He didn't need to check facts,
just
make sure all the data handed to him was formatted properly. This journalist
would quickly lose his/her job.
[Thom Quine writes] Imagine a journalist who threw in his or her own opinion
instead of citing qualified authorities and verifiable studies. Even
scientific journalists who are recognized experts in their field never make
a statement of fact without careful citation. For a journalist, checking
facts means checking your sources and saying absolutely nothing that cannot
be independently verified.
You are a journalist. A TECHNICAL journalist.  You must check your facts.
And
the first place to check them is inside your own brain.[Thom Quine writes]
...and the second place is with a real SME...
Andrew Plato
 [Thom Quine writes] Of course a wide technical knowledge, and especially
business knowledge, is invaluable. I just want to caution you all about what
I see as a common problem among technical writers - trying to out-SME the
SME, getting bogged down in the belief that you must master a subject before
you can write about it, instead of recognizing your role as a designer of
information delivery systems.
I have worked with SMEs who spent their entire lives in their field of
expertise. Yes, it helps to know what they are talking about, but I never
forget that they are the authority, and my job is to package (really to
design) their information - not become a bigger authority than they are.
Again, to summarize, learn some humility, learn to work effectively with and
to rely on your SMEs, learn to focus on your own area of expertise
(information design), and watch your productivity soar...
- Thom



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