TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: OFFSHORING ARTICLE/Non-Writers As Writers From:"Simon North" <Simon -dot- North -at- synopsys -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 11 Nov 2003 09:59:35 +0100
Just to add my two cents to this discussion ...
As I see it, it isn't so much about the ability to write per se, it's
about the ability to do it as a 'professional' activity.
In nearly 20 years as a technical writer I've seen a lot of engineers
who could produce technical documentation; some of it was even quite
good. However, the process is not a manageable one. Given enough
time, I should think almost anyone could produce an acceptable
manual, but the point is that without the skills and experience the
result is going to be inconsistent and unpredictable.
As a "professional", I will give you a technical manual. You will
know (within tolerances) in advance what the quality will be, you
will know what the page count will be, and you will know when it will
be ready. If you want a second manual for another piece of equipment,
software package, whatever, as well as knowing this information in
advance you will also know that the second manual will be consistent
with the first.
Furthermore, if you don't like the first draft of the manual ...
well, I can make it whatever you want it to be; you want the style to
be more conversational, fine; I know what you mean and I can
translate that into results. You plan to have the manual translated?
OK, I'll make sure that it's written with that in mind. You'd like
the manual to also be available in an online version? no problem. You
have 15 versions of the same machine with only slight differences?
OK, let's tackle this as an engineering activity and see if we can
find a turnkey solution. Would you like SGML with that?
To draw on a poor analogy; I can do my own plumbing. It make take me
ages, cost more than I expected, and I have no idea how long it will
take me, much less whether the results will be any good ... sure, I
can do it, but don't come complaining afterwards.
Technical writing is not writing, and writing is only part of the
story. Many years ago, I used to call myself a documentation
engineer; not just because I was an electronics engineer before I
became a technical writer (even if my first degree is in English and
French literature), but because technical writing is much more of an
engineering discipline - producing documentation as part of an
industrial process to a deadline, to a budget, and to agreed
standards.
RoboHelp for FrameMaker is a NEW online publishing tool for FrameMaker that
lets you easily single-source content to online Help, intranet, and Web.
The interface is designed for FrameMaker users, so there is little or no
learning curve and no macro language required! Call 800-718-4407 for
competitive pricing or download a trial at: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l4
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
