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

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

Jan Henning wrote

> What is valuable in it's own right, if you contrast it with "valuable
> as a means to an end"? Maybe life itself, love or some other such
> things. But, e.g., technical knowledge? No, it becomes valuable only
> when used to achieve some purpose, i.e., as a means to an end.
>
> What do you regard as valuable in its own right?

Well, you brought the phrase "in its own right" into the discussion, so I
guess the question is what you mean by it.

I asserted that the value of writing was contingent on having something to
say. You replied:

> My opinion still is that this is a skill that is
> a) rare b) valuable in its own right.

I don't know how to interpret that except as a denial of my assertion that
its value is contingent.

However, you are clearly correct that almost all values are contingent in
the general case. To make the discussion of inherent vs. contingent values
useful, you have to anchor them in some other value which may itself be
contingent and avoid tracing the value chain all the way back to its roots.

Using machine X is valuable because it produces some economic good. That
good may be contingent in its own right, but for now we can treat using
machine X as the reference point for value.

So, knowing how to use machine X is directly valuable. If I know how to use
it, I can use it and using it is good.

Knowing how to write is a contingent good to the problem of using machine X.
It itself, it gets you nowhere. But if you know how to use machine X and you
know how to explain stuff, and you know how to write, then you can write a
document that explains how to use Machine X. Then more people can use it,
and using it is good.

Most people can write.
Fewer people can explain.
Fewer people still know how to use machine X.

If you can explain stuff, and you know how to use machine X, then chances
are you can also write. So writing is a common skill of contingent value.
Yes, it has some value, but not by itself. And the pay rate for the person
who writes the book on machine X is far more likely to be contingent on
their ability to explain and on their knowledge of Machine X than on their
writing skills per se.

---
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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