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RE: Technical Writing, Training and QA ... and Law Firms
Subject:RE: Technical Writing, Training and QA ... and Law Firms From:"Eichelberger, Mark" <Mark -dot- Eichelberger -at- aftech -dot- fiserv -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 19 Mar 2001 11:37:32 -0600
Christensen, Kent [lkchris -at- sandia -dot- gov]posted this:
re: A poster summarizes his thread regarding "... why we have been
resistant to taking on additional training assignments." He notes "Our fear
is that training will take precedence over the technical writing and that
our documentation will suffer as a result."
Kent went on to state:
"Given this, it makes sense to suggest that tech writers can really benefit
from knowledge available in other courses of study such as marketing and
education. It seems rather self-defeating not to, and in my mind at least
it makes you look a bit foolish when you express this sort of resistance.
Continuing education is expected of professionals. I think the excuse "it's
not my job" is not available to tech writers."
I am the poster being referenced and believe my comments are being taken out of context or misinterpreted (or both). In my 4 year as a Technical Writer at my current organization, I have:
* designed marketing and technical support newsletters
* created functional specifications for products
* participated with our Product Development, Sales and Programming departments in GUI design and development of technical specifications of new products and product enhancements
* designed and created of Training Materials for in-house and onsite training seminars
* designed, tested and implemented CBT modules in conjunction with our Training and Technical support staff
* trained documented enhancements for current products and additional areas in which I have a level of expertise
* assisted QA and Beta sites in testing new enhancements
* and oh yes....I have found the time to actually write end-user documentation too!
Many of the listed accomplishments were the result of my taking the initiative to broaden my knowledge of the processes and products of my organization. I am well aware that it has assisted in my career development and has helped me to write more effective documentation.
You may notice that I stated that "we have been resistant to taking on *additional* training assignments".
The purpose of my posting was not to express justification for a "not my job" mentality, but rather to find others Tech Writers who have been in similar situations and have developed strategies for handling impossible demands. I did post a reply to the list on Friday that I hoped would clarify my position. Perhaps some readers missed that posting. If so, here is some of it.
"During the last year, our company has gone from 1 annual release of new software to 3. This has dramatically shortened the deadlines for documentation preparation while increasing the need for documentation updates. In other words, more work in less time."
"At the same time, the Director of Training and Installation has embarked on a aggressive expansion of training classes offered for internal and external clients. In short, the current schedule calls for 2 to 3 seminars per month. Many of these seminars are 2 day seminars. Couple this with the fact that the Training department currently has 1 part time employee and a manager (a working manager expected to train) and there are no plans to hire more staff. The Director wants the technical writers to begin training seminars that can not be handled by the training staff. 2 out of 3 of the tech writers have training experience and know that it takes between 1-2 days to prepare for a 2 day seminar. Our fear is that training will take precedence over the technical writing and that our documentation will suffer as a result. That, in a nutshell, is why we have been resistant to taking on additional training assignments."
I apologize for the length of this reply, but I felt I had to (further) clarify my issue.
Mark Eichelberger
Technical Writer
AFTECH
Mark -dot- Eichelberger -at- Aftech -dot- Fiserv -dot- com
610 993 8000 x534
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
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