Fear and Loathing at the Job Site

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

I'm a couple of weeks into a long contract. It's a learning experience, 
but not quite in the way that I expected. I knew I had to learn a lot to 
learn about the technology (and still do), as well as the labyrinthine 
complexities of a network that, like most of them, grew without much 
planning. I also knew that I had to accustom myself to working on site 
for the first time in over a year.

What I didn't expect was, in doing forensic work, I would come into 
close contact with the mind of a writer who believes that a technical 
writer's expertise is only in writing. Hunter S. Thompson at his most 
gonzo could hardly do justice to the experience. In fact, his trip to 
Las Vegas was a stroll through Norman Rockwell's America in contrast.

Sifting through the hard drive, I found receipts for training courses on 
every piece of design software imaginable. I found downloads of tool 
tips from Adobe, and endless PDFs from STC sites.

At the same time, this writer, with an audience of engineers, thought 
that mentioning that a slash was used to indicate a command option was 
worth emphasizing as a tip. The same writer had no idea what a hash mark 
at the start of a line in a text configuration file meant. Bits and 
pieces were copied and pasted together with so little senses of 
continuity that I haven't the slightest doubt that the writer understood 
practically nothing of the subject, despite having spent over a year on 
the job.

This same writer is also proof that calling a non-technical writer a 
font-fondler is off the mark. It's not just that this writer's page 
design shows not even the vaguest awareness of basic design and simply 
looks wonky - although I do observe that, if someone is not inclined to 
learn a technical subject, then there's no reason to suppose that they 
will learn any other body of expertise, either.

But what really struck me was that the information that the writer chose 
to put into tips or into sidebars with colored background. It was so 
erratic that it only emphasized how little command of the subject was 
behind the design. Today, it struck me very forcibly that, not only can 
you not write without expertise, but you can't design, either. A large 
chunk of basic design is knowing what to emphasize; another is know what 
elements go together. If you don't know the subject, then both these 
aspects of design become impossible.

Certainly this is the most extreme case of a non-technical writer that 
I've encountered. But the last couple of weeks have made me wonder. I've 
always taken Andrew Plato's remarks as three parts hyperbole to one part 
observation. Now, I feel I have to give him the benefit of the doubt and 
wonder if, on this subject, he wasn't sticking strictly to the truth. A 
scary mood, to give Andrew the benefit of the doubt.


--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

"Hal-an-Tow, jolly rumbelow,
We were out long before the day-o,
For to welcome in the summer time
To welcome in the May-o
Summer is acoming in, and winter's gone away"
- Traditional


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