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.
re: How to keep going once the honeymoon's over ....
Subject:re: How to keep going once the honeymoon's over .... From:Sean Hower <hokumhome -at- freehomepage -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 1 Oct 2002 08:38:22 -0700 (PDT)
John Posada wrote:
-----------------------------------------
When I have problem getting the participation of a SME, I tell them that:
"I have no problem what-so-ever, with writing it the way I think it should be....even if I have to make it up out of thin air as I go along. I'm a contractor...once I deliver the project, I'm done...YOU have to live with the errors."
-----------------------------------------
Wow, really? THat's pretty ... well ... um ... forward. But I suppose if it works. :-) What sort of responce do you usually get?
Jeff Hanvey
-----------------------------------------
Also, these people might not have worked with a writer before, and they simply don't know what there role in the relationship is.
-----------------------------------------
One of my coworkers just ran into this problem. He received a technical review back from a new developer with a lot of "helpful" tips on grammar and word usage. The edit concluded with a comment that the developer didn't really have the time to rewrite the document for the writer. We all giggled, went through proper channels, and everything is fine now. The developer just didn't know what to do I think. But we have pretty good support here for what we do.
You know, we have a technical review guidelines here that we _usually_ give to people along with the tech edit, maybe you could write up something similar that explains your purpose and the expectations you, as a technical writer, have from your SMEs. Just a thought. I don't know how well that would go over.
Jeff was also right in saying that you should take control of the situation. Sitting around and waiting for the SME to come to you just won't do. That's a lesson I'm still learning. ;-)
"Whatever you do, do NOT let your editorial decisions be made by the squiggly spell-checking lines in Word!" ~Keith Cronin, Techwr-l irritant ;-)
_____________________________________________________________
Create your own web site for FREE at http://www.freehomepage.com
_____________________________________________________________
Select your own custom email address for FREE! Get you -at- yourchoice -dot- com w/No Ads, 6MB, POP & more! http://www.everyone.net/selectmail?campaign=tag
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All-new RoboHelp X3 is now shipping! Get single sourcing, print-quality
documentation, conditional text and much more, in the most monumental
release ever. Save $100! Order online at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Buy ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 6.0, the most powerful SINGLE SOURCE HELP
AUTHORINGTOOL for MS Word. SAVE $100 on the full version and $50 on upgrades.
Offer ends Oct 31, 02 (code: DTH102250). http://www.componentone.com/d2hlist1002
---
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.
