Re: Important Stuff They Don't Teach In Tech Writing School

["diotima" <diotima -at- myway -dot- com>]

jerry wrote:



>You are the advocate for the end user. Everything you do is ultimately for the end user. Sometimes your client needs a gentle reminder -- "That's an interesting suggestion, but how does it help the end user?"



to which andrew responded:



>No. Good writing is not about activism for users. This is an idiotic concept that has been infecting writers for too long. Where did you ever get the idea that the users need advocates?



>Users by and large hate documents. They won't read them and don't care about them.



Where did he say that users love documents?



andrew continues:



>All a user ever wants is to be productive, get a job done, and go get drunk (on booze, cat hair, religion, or whatever vice they have). Users are not fragile pixies who need our protection and love. They need information. And its your job to give it to them, as painlessly as possible.



>Furthermore, tech writers are not the defacto user experience experts. If you don't know how a product works or understand the people using it ? then pointing out things you don't understand isn't "user advocacy" its annoying.  



where did he say that user advocacy was the practice of pointing out things you don't understand when you don't even have an understanding of the product or the user?



andrew continued:





>Its like the neighborhood kid who wanders around while you're trying to fix the car, asking a million questions. At first its cute. Then its annoying. Then you're debating dropping a transmission on him and how you'll avoid a prison term.



that's really disingenuous to read that kind of analogy into what jerry wrote.





andrew continued:



>Many technologies are designed and built based on specific market needs and wants. If you want to get into user design, then become a desginer or marketing slug. Don't assume because you can use FrameMaker, you're now entitled to begin questioning the design of a product or technology.



>You can't criticize things you don't know. Regardless of what Steve Martin might sing.



>Yes, I know....Some places will allow the tech writers to become a part of the design and development process. But this is usually after they have proven they have expertise with the technologies and industry. Its not something you get on day one.



>Andrew Plato



i haven't been on this list all that long, but this is the most unnecessarily caustic and condescending post i've seen yet. jerry's text may not have been as elegant or thorough as it might have been, but it hardly deserved such a spiteful retort.



-diotima







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