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Re: Important Stuff They Don't Teach In Tech Writing School
Subject:Re: Important Stuff They Don't Teach In Tech Writing School From:"Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 27 Aug 2004 17:14:31 -0400
Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
> "Andrew Plato" <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote...
>>
>> No. Good writing is not about activism for users.
>
> Good catch, I missed that one...
The original poster did not say it was about "activism for users," so
you did not miss anything.
>
> As a technical writer you are a part of the product development team.
> As such, your responsibility is to support the successful completion,
> release and support of the product by ensuring that the necessary
> information is provided for the end user to successfully use the
> product
> for its advertised purpose with a minimal impact on your company's
> product support resources. What this amounts to is providing the
> user with just enough information, not giving away the store by
> handing over company proprietary data because you think the user
> will find it useful or interesting and getting the documents done in
> time
> to deliver with the completed product. In order to do this, you need
> to know what the user knows, what the user does *not* know,
> what the user needs to know and what the user does *not* need to
> know. Knowing what the user may *want* or *like* to know may
> be of some value, but it better not be what's driving your efforts to
> document a product that is supposed to ship on time and make a
> profit for the company.
>
It seems to me that the above is what people
mean by being a "user advocate."
At least that's how I have always understood
the term. I think it's a useful
concept -- far from "idiotic" -- as long as
it's not seen as the primary role.
It certainly plays a part in good writing.
Bonnie Granat
www.GranatEdit.com
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Mobile: 617-319-7461
Office: 617-354-7084
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