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Subject:Why You NEED to be Technical From:Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 24 Jul 2001 13:23:20 -0700 (PDT)
"Darren Barefoot" wrote
> While, again, it may be useful to completely understand how a product
> works, it is by no means essential.
and...
> I respond because I'm creating very technical documents for developing
> Internet middleware. The sort of understanding you describe would
> require me to be a programmer.
Darren's post is an excellent launching site for a more complete
explaination of why you need to be more technical.
As a ***TECHNICAL*** writer, it is essential to understand the inner
workings of whatever you are documenting. The reasons:
1. Accuracy/Reliability: When you know the inner-workings you can more
accurately evaluate information handed to you. You also can assess the
general technical accuracy and usefulness insuring your documents are
properly targeted and meaningful.
2. Comprehensiveness: When you understand the inner-workings, you have a
better sense of the scope and size of issues. You can therefore anticipate
issues the reader might have. This leads to more comprehensive
documentation that addresses a complete set of issues. It also allows you
to design the document to fit those issues more effectively.
3. Access to Information: Knowing the inner-workings is also a conduit for
more information. When you can converse intelligently with SMEs, they will
respect you and divulge more information to you. Moreover, since you have
a better comprehension of the topic, you can research it with greater
focus, thus allowing you to access more relevant material.
4. Its your job: The word technical implies technical knowledge. If you
are a technical writer, you should be technical. I know of NO brain
surgeons that do not understand the inner workings of the brain. How then
can we have technical writers with no technical knowledge. Sorry, but
knowledge of a tool, like FrameMaker does not count. That is like saying a
brain surgeon is good because he can hold a scalpel correctly.
5. Readers First: If you truly care about the readers, you will make an
effort to become a super-expert in whatever you are documenting. How can
a reader trust your work if you are not willing to learn the inner
workings of the products? They can't.
6. Nobody is asking you to be a engineer (SME): There is a big difference
between PROGRAMMING and UNDERSTANDING PROGRAMMING. For example, I know
exactly how a car engine is built. But I could never actually build one.
Nobody is saying "go program." You need to understand what it is that the
engineers are doing and basically how they do it. Technical writers are
always pissed when engineers say "ANYBODY can write" when we know this
isn't true. The fact is - it is true - anybody can write. The real issue
is: can they write well. Engineers may understand writing, but they aren't
usually good writers. Likewise, technical writers may understand the
programming, but they aren't good programmers.
7. Money: Highly skilled writers with strong technology skills are rare.
Thus, they make more money and have better job prospects. Imagine a
software company is confronted with two candidates. Candidate A is a
FrameMaker wizard. Candidate B is a FrameMaker wizard AND knows the
technology they use. Guess who gets hired?
In summary, if you avoid the details, you're just doing yourself and your
readers a disservice. Yes, you NEED to be technical.
Andrew Plato
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