Re: Need Help Please

["Lisa Wright" <liwright -at- qwest -dot- net>]

Nancy,
I know this is late. I'm catching up on old posts. I offer up what's
happening at our company as an alternative way of looking at your problem.

Quick background: 18-person company, enterprise-level software with a
6-digit price tag. I used to be the tech writer working in Development. Now
I'm the product manager, working in Marketing. I've also worked at the
company longer than all but 3 people. I know a lot. My boss, smart guy, used
to be a programmer. Very technically adept. Also a very good marketer. Heck,
he even knows there's a difference between an em- and en-dash and cares
about when to use them!

(Lesson from background: Assumptions about people's backgrounds and
capabilities based on where they are now can be dangerous.)

Here's the process that's evolving in handling all our writing projects.
We've got two categories of stuff, more or less: documents that support
sales, and documents that support users after sales. We need lots of
documents to support sales because our software carries a big price tag and
has to pass lots of decision points with lots of different agendas.
Prospective users, managers, VPs, and usually CEOs (who are taking much
bigger control of capital expenditures lately). Writing for these people
requires the same kind of audience knowledge that technical writing does,
it's just that the CEO cares about very different things than a software
user.

The sales-support documents include the product specifications, product fact
sheets, and glossy brochures. We're also developing technical specifications
that explain both the architecture and the platform requirements. Technical
stuff. Because all of this may go to the customer before the sale, we've
made the decision that it all goes through marketing. All of it. The message
is consistent (and that's key), and the focus is on explaining the benefits,
even if it is a feature focused document, though obviously the product spec
is very different from the fact sheets from the brochures.

Regardless of who contributes to the document content, it gets a final wash
from me and my VP, and I am the distribution point. This current round of
document contributors were the two of us, the tech writer, and the VP of
development.

User support documents all stop with the tech writer, though again a variety
of people may contribute, and I do a lot of editing and content checking
because I know a lot (hint: the product manager, who usually works for
marketing, provides requirements, ergo is a good source of information about
how the product works). As for marketing having input on the installation
guide, the installation guide is part of the "whole product." (Read Geoffrey
Moore, "Crossing the Chasm," "Inside the Tornado" for some education about
what a product really is.) Therefore yes, it is marketing's concern as well.

I think the other responders made excellent points about learning more about
what's going on in marketing, possibly even getting some experience there.
Understand WHY the marketing VP is so concerned about all the documentation.
What problem is he trying to solve by being involved? What is he seeing (or
not seeing) that makes him concerned? Is it an issue with the current
situation or a lesson from prior experience?

I designed most of the templates a long time ago. We have corporate fonts,
colors, general styles, and these evolve as new documents dictate. Usually
the only territory problem we have is that I have to remember that I am NOT
the tech writer anymore!

Good luck,
Lisa Wright
Product Manager, Peak Market Center
PeakEffects, Inc.


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