TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Here's a late Friday, on-topic post for you to ponder.
I am in a situation now that for the first time in my Tech Writing career,
my analysis skills are playing a major role in my success or failure. I
like it in a lot of regards, because my last employer viewed the technical
writer as little more than a glorified secretary in a lot of regards. In
particular, I had supervisors, and directors ask me why we had to do any
analysis of a situation, and then said that since we weren't educationally
prepared for this task, that we should leave it up to the analysts in the
department, and just write down what they said.
I am wondering, how many other folks out there have faced this same kind of
resistance from traditional, MIS grad-types who fear the technical
communicator is "treading" in their sacred territory when the Tech Comm
wants to simply interview the user or document consumer to find out how
they do their job (to set the goals and direction of their document of c
ourse!)
Any thoughts? (mandatory cookie reference inserted for search engines to
index here ;-} )
Cheers!
*********************************************
Bill Bledsoe
Envision Solutions
bill -at- envision -dot- com
or
intlidox -at- anet-stl -dot- com
"I'm out on a limb where the fun begins"
Adrian Belew/The Bears
***********************************************
TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send administrative commands
ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-