Re: Help - my consultants cannot write!

[Edwin Skau <eddy -dot- skau -at- gmail -dot- com>]

> Clear writing requires clear thinking. Well-educated people can
> write clearly and succinctly.

True. However, they probably think clearly in a different language, and
don't translate that into English very well.

> People who haven't developed that skill by the
> time they finish their education probably never will.
Also generally true, although I've seen people pick up skills late in life
that their mental OS didn't originally seem to provide for. The old thinking
on this subject believed that the brain couldn't be rewired, but that has
changed in the face of new evidence to the contrary.

Edwin


On Mon, Oct 10, 2011 at 5:45 AM, Michael West <mike -dot- west -at- bigpond -dot- com> wrote:

> > I am in desperate need of tech writer training for my consultants. I
> > have a bunch of information security consultants who cannot write. Its
> > infuriating. I edit their material and I want to wring their necks.
> > They blather and yammer on about this and that - I need to teach these
> > people how to succinctly express complex ideas and write reports.
>
> Forget it. Clear writing requires clear thinking. Well-educated people can
> write clearly and succinctly. People who haven't developed that skill by
> the
> time they finish their education probably never will.
>
> You could try sending them to your local Info Mapping franchise to help
> them
> learn to organise their blather. Well-organised blather often passes for
> clear writing. A small percentage of them will benefit from the course.
>
> My memory may be faulty, but I seem to remember a certain discussion in
> this
> forum, a while back, in which one contributor maintained that "everyone
> knows how to write" and that the most important consideration in technical
> communication is how much the writer knows about the subject matter. Has
> that person changed his mind, or have I imagined the whole thing?
> --
> Mike West
>
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