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Re: Technical Communication in Manufacturing Industry

Subject: Re: Technical Communication in Manufacturing Industry
From: Dick Margulis <margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 12:18:42 -0400




Gene Kim-Eng wrote:


Engineer-written user documents have been in wide use in a number of critical settings for many years. In my previous life as an engineer
my colleagues and I wrote many user manuals, most of which are still in use today, and there have never been any of the issues you describe. One contributing factor in this has undoubtedly been the
fact that if their intended users didn't follow instructions they could
be court-martialed for the results.

Gene Kim-Eng



Gene,

When there were fewer engineering schools (pre-Sputnik, in other words) and those schools saw themselves as educational institution rather than trade schools, the majority of engineers were required to write clearly as a condition for graduation. Those old-line schools still have that requirement.

However, as I'm sure you are well aware, the proliferation of second-tier (but still accredited) engineering schools has led to a market flooded with degreed engineers who have a glorified technical institute education. So while I'm sure you and your colleagues wrote admirably functional documents, today's younger engineers cannot be counted on to be able to do so.

Dick

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Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: Technical Communication in Manufacturing Industry: From: Nuckols, Kenneth M
Re: Technical Communication in Manufacturing Industry: From: Gene Kim-Eng

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