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Subject:Re: Stress Management Amongst Technical Writers From:Win Day <winday -at- home -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 09 Aug 2001 10:31:31 -0400
On Thu, 9 Aug 2001 11:47:23 +0100, in bit.listserv.techwr-l Darren Barefoot
<Darren -dot- Barefoot -at- capeclear -dot- com>wrote:
>While I may not be directly answering your question, and this may be a
>somewhat unpopular opinion, I think that technical writing (or, at least, my
>experience of it) is one of the least stressful professional occupations
>around. Consider the following reasons:
>
>* Typically, you work in a safe, danger-free environment.
Agreed.
>* Typically your work is not on the critical path of a product
>release...more often I've found the documentation works on a paralell path.
>The end result is that whenever the product is ready, the documentation is
>done. So, though deadlines exist, the doc requirements tend to change with
>the deadline.
While this might be true for tech writers responsible for software
documentation, it's much less applicable to those of use writing other
kinds of docs.
For example, I spent years writing refinery operations and safety manuals,
startup and shutdown guides for engineering firms. Believe me, those are
critical path items. The project can't be delivered till these are done,
and done correctly.
>* Relative to other parts of the company--for example, sales, marketing,
>product development--your work has only a small impact on your company's
>health.
Not necessarily. See above.
>* For the most part, if you get something wrong, it's not going to result in
>catastrophe.
>
Again, not necessarily. One of the events that drove me from engineering
into tech writing was having to watch an acquaintance die and a friend be
seriously injured in a refinery fire. They were in the wrong place at the
wrong time, following poorly written documentation (not mine!).
If one of my docs had errors, equipment could blow up and people could die.
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