Re: This too is technical communication

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

In most of the pubs teams I have managed, writers "knew" things
because they had done them previously, either as developers, field/
customer service reps or just users.  This knowledge was what made
the difference between someone we hired as a senior level writer and
someone we hired (if at all) as a lower-level associate/junior writer.
There are, of course, lots of companies that are content to have their
developers shove content at their writers and just have the writers 
edit and format it.  And yes, there have been occaisions when we
needed to produce documentation for something that nobody had
any expertise in and we needed to get trained before we could do
the work.  For an interviewee, "knowing how to find out" may be
an acceptable substitute for just "knowing."

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lauren" <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu>
> Knowing a user still requires some process to get from not knowing to
> learning and then to knowing.  Technical writers are not born "knowing."
> How could it be possible that an interviewee would "know" the new situation?
> What is that person's learning process?  I would be concerned with somebody
> that came in saying they know everything when they are new.  Wouldn't that
> attitude present the risk that the person may assume too much?

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