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Subject:Re: Dealing with engineers' input From:Laura Johnson <lauraj -at- CND -dot- HP -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 6 Jan 1995 16:07:44 GMT
Arthur Comings (atc -at- corte-madera -dot- geoquest -dot- slb -dot- com) wrote:
: When you're discussing a document of yours with engineers and managers
: who can't give you a direct order to rephrase something the way they
: would have said it (and would be the first to admit that words are your
: domain) how do you handle their specific suggestions for rewording
: without either explaining that their suggestion won't fly, or giving the
: impression that you'll do what they suggest?
"OK, thanks. I might do a little wordsmithing on that, but I'll make sure
I get across the idea that <whatever their reason was for rewording>."
I don't know if "wordsmith" is widely used anywhere but here; I
certainly don't think it's a real word. It seems to mean anything from
"make the subject & verb agree" to "rewrite completely" -- making it
quite useful in this context.
Note that the person probably did have *some* reason for rewording, so
try to figure out what that reason is, and acknowledge it.
--
Laura Johnson
lauraj -at- fc -dot- hp -dot- com
Hewlett Packard NSMD
Ft. Collins, CO
