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Subject:Re: So now we are content engineers? From:Richard Hamilton <dick -at- rlhamilton -dot- net> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com >> TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Wed, 6 Nov 2013 16:39:14 -0800
Techwhirlers:-)?
Having spent a fair amount of time with Contentommentators (a mouthful, but not a bad coinage), and having published some of their books, I can say with some confidence that none of them spend all, or most, of their time going to conferences, reviewing other's books, and reading/commenting on each other's blogs (or, most visibly to me, writing those books; if they did, I might actually get a book completed on schedule once in a while:)
What's visible for most of the Contentommentariate (yikes:-) is the marketing tip of the iceberg. They do real work for clients who pay them for their expertise, and the books, conferences, blogs, etc., are essentially marketing. The best present useful information through those means, but even then, it's marketing. BTW, as a publisher, I don't mind that some of the folks I publish are part of the Contentommentariate (I'm getting to like that term), as long as I can extract useful information from them for our readers.
Taking a step back to the original point of this thread, Mark's article reminds me of a common truth about project planning. The plan is less important than the process you go through to make the plan. Plans are out-of-date the moment they're complete, but if the process is solid, then what you learn making the plan will help the project succeed.
I'd argue that the titles we give ourselves are less important than the process of understanding what it is we do, including what is more important and what is less important. Since that varies for each organization and individual, actually taking the time to figure that out may make more sense than just slapping on the title-du-jour.
Richard Hamilton
-------
XML Press
XML for Technical Communicators http://xmlpress.net
hamilton -at- xmlpress -dot- net
On Nov 6, 2013, at 10:22 AM, Robert Lauriston wrote:
> What's the job title for people who spend their time listening to each
> other at conferences, reviewing each other's books, and reading and
> commenting on each other's blogs?
>
> Contentommentator?
>
>
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