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> How well are the technical writing tools and
> processes
> in your organization documented?
>
> * Not well. New members need assistance
We document the critical stuff but not everything.
Frankly, there's no time to do it. Of course, if a
tech writer can't come in and ramp up on doc tools and
doc processes with minimal guidance in a reasonable
amount of time... well, I question that writer's
abilities.
Tools are tools. You pick one, learn it, and use it.
They are all fundamentally the same for writers. Sure,
there is a big difference between Word and FrameMaker,
but all functionality aside, can you launch either one
and begin to write without product knowledge?
Absolutely. How styles and such are applied can easily
be taught. How to create templates and so forth should
be managed by those who know the most about the tools
and the company wants/desires, so newbies are in the
clear there.
Doc processes are for the most part pretty similar
from place to place, and if they aren't documented,
they are verbally explained.
Again, given the time, I'm sure we'd all have
everythin documented down to a science. But, time is a
precious commodity that seems to grow more precious
every day. Therefore only the most critical info
usually gets documented (in my situation). It's up to
the writers to get up to speed and ask questions...
heck, it's expected for the reast of their job duties.
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