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From: Kat Nagel [mailto:mlists -at- masterworkconsulting -dot- com]
<<I want to know what the SME knows about (A) and know what my audience
needs to DO with (A) and then explain to the audience the parts of
(A) that they need to understand in order to do their jobs---explain
it more clearly and efficiently than the SME would.>>
And that's it in a nutshell, isn't it? (I agree with Geoff Hart's explanation, too, but his was more of a Brazil nut shell. <g>)
However, I'm still confused by Andrew Plato's speculation:
<<It seems to me that writers of the font-fondling persuasion artificially
created the whole "SME vs. audience" issue so they could create jobs where
their technical ignorance would become an asset.>>
Is it a given that this position is prevalent? I must be a "font fondler" (my writing expertise is my main asset; my technical knowledge has mostly come from on-the-job experience and training), and the majority of tech writers I've worked with over the years also fit that description. But very few of us--none that I know of, in fact--consider the technical SMEs antagonistic or unconcerned about their audience.
Not all SMEs are created equal, naturally, and I've run into more than a few who are fervent user advocates. But generally, the longer the SME's been developing expertise, the less they're able to extract meaningful user information from their wealth of knowledge. I've had the great fortune of working with a fair number of technical types who truly appreciate my ability to take raw technical information and turn it into end-user information -- it takes the burden of doing so off them (the SMEs), especially if they've been responsible for providing the documentation in the past.
As for the "fun" work of creating templates and designing docs -- I think that's more rewarding for desktop publishers and designers than writers. Writers have just had to take on those tasks as DTPers, artists, and designers have become luxuries most companies can't afford. Meanwhile -- and, again, I'm fortunate in this area -- the writers I work with think it's fun that we get to attend a good number of technical training courses.
