TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: You Don't Need to Know How From:bryan -dot- westbrook -at- amd -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 25 Jul 2001 13:17:23 -0500
It's especially important in troubleshooting. Unless you understand how
something works, you can never be reasonably certain that you know all of
the ways that it can stop working. I've spent hours staring at electrical
schematics to make sure that every component, every switch, every wire, and
every connector pin was covered in a troubleshooting procedure.
The only alternative is to wait for the product to actually fail in the
field and respond to the complaints (I missed a few wires once and they did
cause a failure in a unit so I can tell you that your customers will not be
in a good mood if you go about it this way).
You might be tempted to blow off the t/s portion and not pay much attention
to it, but remember this: a large part of the audience will never open that
manual until something goes wrong.
-----Original Message-----
From: SHIELDS,SUSAN (HP-FtCollins,ex1) [mailto:susan_shields2 -at- hp -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 12:05 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE:You Don't Need to Know How
intimate knowledge of its inner workings -- although having that knowlege
might give you a perspective into troubleshooting, cautions, tips, etc."
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
Learn about tools and technologies for user assistance developers at
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.