Re: Time with Engineers (was What We Do)

[Rose Wilcox <RWILC -at- FAST -dot- DOT -dot- STATE -dot- AZ -dot- US>]

Rose Norman wrote:

>So the question is this: how much time do you spend getting information
from
>engineers (e.g., how many hours a week) in order to write and maintain a
>technical document?  Also, how do you get this information--on the phone,
in
>writing, in regularly scheduled meetings, in casual office time?  etc.

Hoo, boy.  Well, Rose, don't cha know... it depends on the product, the
manuals, the amount of changes in the software, the resources (specs, code
to read, applications to play with), the type of changes in the software
(update or changing what is already coded, adding completely new functions)
and so forth....

In a perfect world, I try to get a hold of specifications (yes, I hear you
snickering), code (for some reason, not forthcoming in my current contract),
and have access to the application *with* valid-looking data.  Even *with*
perfect world resources, there will be questions I have to ask developers.
 In addition, the resources I usually get are never "perfect world" quality.
 The specs are badly written, don't exist, and are certainly never updated
to match the actual product.  The code is uncommented and unstructured so
that even an ace programmer cannot follow it.  The application is
unfinished, not user-friendly, and not intuitive.

In addition, I need access to clients and users to understand the functions
they will be using the software for.  Sometimes the *developers* don't
understand what the program does.  This is particularly true in shops where
there has been a great deal of turnover.

As for how, that also depends.  I tailor that to the *developers* needs.
 However, I have found that only getting answers in writing usually leads to
the need to meet with the developer in person.  Most of them cannot write
very well, y'know, plus sometimes the question needs to be asked a couple of
different ways to elicit the desired information.

Giving the questions in writing is good in advance of an interview, rather
than as a replacement for an interview.  The phone can be okay, especially
if both people have the application installed and can look at it as they go
over the questions.

My current environment is very casual.  The advantage of casual conversation
is that both the developers and tech writers can learn new things from each
other.  For example, "I didn't know that you were planning on updating the
Froomal Set... I had better update the manual then."  and "Gee, you say Joe
is changing the Grimmel code?  Hey, that affects my module!"

I've never found regularly scheduled meetings to be that helpful,
personally.

Good luck to your friend, Rose.

Rosie "Technical writing without information is creative writing... You can
quote me on that" Wilcox
rwilc -at- fast -dot- dot -dot- state -dot- az -dot- us
ncrowe -at- primenet -dot- com
"At a birthday party for the big lug, Toho Studios said Godzilla '...had
become too likable and wasn't crushing enough things.'"  (I have this
problem too.)