Re: Re(2): I'm taking my marbles and going home...

["Martin R. Soderstrom" <scribbler1382 -at- yahoo -dot- com>]

> Depending on what you mean with "expert", I might disagree. If you mean
> that the writer does not need to be on a similar level of expertise as
> the SMEs themselves, you're probably right for most cases. If you mean
> that just neing a technical writer means you can document almost
> everything, I think you'd be wrong.

expert, sme, knowledgeable elder, fat guy with a memory...call it whatever
you want, it's the person with the information you need.

And when I talk about "technical writers" I'm not referring to the
one-trick-ponies.  I'm sure some of them are very, very good OTP's and do a
great job, but they're not whom I'm referring to.  I'm talking about
writers; people with an ability to explain and educate tailored to their
audience, people with a sponge for a brain and an insatiable curiousity
about everything; people who...hey, who's playing that music? :)

> Same with programming manuals: If you want to write a manual for a
> programming language or a fundamental programming tool or non-trivial
> API, you need to be a programmer; there's just no way around it if you
> want to create a decent manual.

That's nonsense.  What you need is an understanding of how programmer's
=think=.  Sure, you're going to need some basic understanding of
technologies and practices, but no where near the depth to which an actual
programmer would. In fact, that can be a hindrance.

Ever watch the face of a kid just out of school being taught by a guy with
15 years experience how to do something?  Objectivity has its value.



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