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Subject:RE: Respect From:"Eric J. Ray (remote)" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 23 Aug 2001 14:54:20 -0600 (MDT)
On Thu, 23 Aug 2001, Douglas S. Bailey (AL) wrote:
> > Keep in mind that, unless you have a pretty unusual
> > job, you do _NOT_ add value by writing documentation,
> > by developing online help, or by cleaning up
> > programmer-ese into English. I know that I don't.
>
> I cannot agree with this, because it basically says that documentation and
> online help doesn't add value. If it doesn't add value, it is of no value.
My point was that the ACT of writing documentation (or whatever)
does NOT add value. Yes, I'll stand by your paraphrase:
"If it doesn't add value, it is of no value", for appropriate
values of "value" ;-)
_Value_ comes from making the program/system/apparatus/whatever
worth more than it would have been without your contribution.
Sometimes the added value comes in terms of words on
paper/onscreen, sometimes it is in helping to redesign the
UI so the online help becomes irrelevant and unneeded,
sometimes it's by identifying egregious bugs before customers
do.
I could as easily have written that
"Programmers do not add value by writing code". They add
value by helping to solve customer problems by developing
software to do that. We as technical writers can add value
by making it possible for users to take advantage of those
tools. Sometimes books help users, but sometimes other
contributions are more important.
> Since when does a user buy A instead of B because A has better
> documentation? Almost never. But that doesn't change the fact that
> documentation, especially good documentation, does add value to the product.
> Only it's value to the user, not the programmer, nor the CEO.
Yes, good documentation adds value. That said, you're missing my
point. If I show up and announce that "I'm from the
technical writing guild and I'm here to help", and proceed
to write documentation to beat the band, I'm not adding
value necessarily. Even if I'm writing thorough, complete,
easily understood documentation, I'm not necessarily adding
value. It all depends on the situation, and defining the
problem space.
That said, the thrust of the initial discussion was getting
respect, and adding value to the overall product is one good
way to accomplish that.
Eric
who has written negative 500 pages of documentation
in the last several months, but nonetheless added value
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