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Subject:Re: observation of tech writer status From:Kevin McLauchlan <kmclauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 1 Nov 2002 09:27:17 -0500
On Thursday 31 October 2002 20:45, Bruce Byfield wrote:
> My impression is much the same as Andrew's. If
> anything,however, I wonder if he's being optimistic.
> I still keep running into many tech-writers with the
> attitude he describes. Usually, it's in the form of
> "I'm an expert in writing. I don't have to be an
> expert in what I'm documenting," but it seems all
> too common.
Hmm. This discussion sounds so familiar... :-)
I'm not a cryptography expert. Our CTO is.
I'm not a programming/software design expert.
Our SW designers and coders are.
I'm not a hardware design expert. Our hardware
designers are.
I'm not a system test expert. Our Product Validation
testers are.
I'm a writer who swims among these other
creatures, who has a working (but nowhere near
expert) knowledge of the various fields, and who
knows (or continues to learn) enough about our
products and about the fields of expertise that
create them, that I regularly get "Hmm. Good
question. I'll figure it out and get back to you."
Sometimes, those questions, and the required
"figuring out" by the experts, result in re-design
or re-work of the product -- and not merely at the
user interface level.
I suppose it is possible that I *could* become an
expert in all those fields, but then I'd likely be out
of work, because:
a) my company could not afford me and
b) I would be doing mostly other stuff than my
first love, which is to write about it all.
/kevin
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