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.
So, uuuummmmm, just how many separate SMEs do you check?
This isn't a question of checking sources, it's a question of where you
draw the line. You could ask the opinion of every SME in the company, or
only one SME. I use one source, backed up by my own observations and
natural curiosity. Do you get 5 opinions and take the result that has
the proponents; for example, if there are two opinions split 3:2, do you
take that with 3 backers? We have about 80 civil engineers on staff,
many pHDs. as a journalism, would you run each of 1750 topics by each of
the 80 engineers? I'd argue that such a thing was a horrible waste of
resources.
Here's a thought that'll provoke a response: I'd go as far as to argue
that the needs for checking sources in technical writing is very
different from the need in journalism! </gasp>
If it matters, there is a formal QA process here, whereby a second SME
will get to review the content of any particular section.
-----Original Message-----
From: Martin R. Soderstrom [mailto:scribbler1382 -at- yahoo -dot- com]
Well, you know your environment and the people you work with better than
I
do, but it seems foolhardy to me to not check your facts or get
corroboration. But then, I'm a journalism grad, and it's in my nature
to
get confirmation from as many sources as possible. (I've also been
burned a
few times by harried SME's with no malicious intent, but a need for me
to go
away so they could meet _their_ deadline.)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Buy RoboHelp Deluxe starting at only $798: you'll get RoboDemo, the hot new
software demonstration tool that's taking the Help authoring world by storm,
together with RoboHelp Office. Learn more at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.
---
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.
