RE: You're SUPPOSED to have good communication skills if you're a tech writer

["Mark Baker" <mbaker -at- ca -dot- stilo -dot- com>]

Dick Margulis wrote:

> I find it ironic that someone who writes as clearly and
> informatively, seemingly without effort, as Mark Baker does
> considers the ability to do so common and widespread. Would that
> we were all as good at this craft as he is.

Yikes! It is to blush!

But seriously, I think of myself as an explainer. I am fascinated by
misunderstanding. When I see it happen, I examine it and disect it so that I
can figure out how to avoid it. I think these are important and marketable
skills. But they are not writing skills per se. There are lots of explainers
out there, and not all of them write by any means.

An explainer may end up in a job that demands a lot of writing. And probably
if you do a lot of writing you will gain some facility and ease with words.
But explaining is a distinct skill and writing is simply one of the tools at
the explainer's disposal.

And, BTW, communication skills are not the same as explaining skills.
Communication is a vehicle through which explaining can happen.

---
Mark Baker
Senior Technical Writer
Stilo Corporation
1900 City Park Drive, Suite 504 , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1J 1A3
Phone: 613-745-4242, Fax: 613-745-5560
Email mbaker -at- ca -dot- stilo -dot- com
Web: http://www.stilo.com

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