RE: Still Seeking Your Thoughts About Technical Skills

["Spreadbury, David C." <David -dot- Spreadbury -at- marconi -dot- com>]

Ted,
I haven't been following this thread, so what I say may have already been
said.

I have found that the best technical skill is to have been there; done that.
I am not being flippant, at least not trying to be, but I got into this
field because I was attempting to perform a hardware procedure and whoever
wrote that manual had never seen the equipment. What was documented as
approximately a day-long process I worked out to be a fifteen minute
process.

Since then, I have attempted to get my hands on the hardware or actually put
the software to test. I also try to take the view that I don't know anything
about the product, which is the viewpoint that most of your end-users are
going to have. I try to express this to engineers. Telling the engineers
that 

"...you know the shortcuts. Your end-users don't. I have to document what I
see or am able to safely do (trying to be careful not to kill myself
(hardware procedure) or take a system down or wipe the system disk (software
procedure). I will take your guidance and attempt to apply it toward the
product. If I run into difficulties, I'll be back (and no, I am not running
for office in California :-))."

Most of the engineers I have had the good fortune to work with understand
this and work with me. When they do, the documents comes out as a very
useable document.

As far as actual writing skills go, I was taught, early on, write like to
speak. If you were trying to teach someone how to perform a specific
procedure, how would you "Say" it to them. Keep the big words to a minimum.
Provide explanations of new concepts/technology. When you are reading
something to your 5 year old and use a word he/she doesn't understand, you
explain it. Same is true when writing about some new concept or technology.
Heck, when I read something and don't understand a word, I dig out my
Webster's or search the Web for an explanation.

I hope this adds to the knowledge your are gaining.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ted Engel [mailto:ted_engel -at- hotmail -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 11:45 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Still Seeking Your Thoughts About Technical Skills



Greetings:

Thank you to everyone who has provided their insights about the skillsets 
technical writers ought to have. I've enjoyed reading your responses.

That said, what **technical skills** place a technical writer on the 
"cutting edge" of our profession?

Please understand that I completely respect those who want to remind me of 
the importance of good writing skills, of knowing the industry one works in,

and so forth. I value hearing those, and I agree with them, but I don't 
believe they are answering my question.

My goal is to learn from the opinions of an audience--this mailing list--I 
respect and not to seem ungrateful. I look forward to your thoughts.

Respectfully,

Ted

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