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>I am interested in starting a thread here of the most common and >most
difficult problems tech writers encounter and must >overcome--e.g., poor or
nonexistent source data, inaccessibility of >those whom you would wish to
interview to gather data, lack of >standards for the product you must
produce, and/or any other >problems you have experienced.
Herm:
The most difficult problem I've encountered is having to deal with internal
politics in clients' companies. Usually the politics involve power struggles
in which the tech writing project is held hostage because the project manager
and the subject matter expert can't agree. The SME doesn't think that there
is anything wrong with the manual HE wrote, and the project manager is under
pressure to get the manual revised but doesn't want to get the SME mad.
Sound familiar?
Audrey Choden
Training by Design
achoden -at- aol -dot- com
70471 -dot- 3700 -at- compuserve -dot- com
