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.
Subject:Re: Editors -Reply From:"Wayne J. Douglass" <wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 16 Jan 1997 11:05:24 -0800
At 12:57 PM 1/16/97 EST, Stacey wrote:
> I do think some of this needs to come from management. Although they
> are very supportive and understand the importance of editing, they're
> not very proactive in promoting me. I'm not sure how much of that I'm
> willing to do myself. Because of the impressions of past editors, I
> try to be as friendly, helpful and non-threatening as possible. There
> are teams here but I can't seem to figure when the writing assignments
> are decided. Even if I did, I'm not sure I could just invite myself
> to the meetings.
>
Managerial support is a good thing (and I had a lot of it in my first job),
but you can have too much of a good thing. In my case, the writing managers
were so heavy-handed in insisting that writers incorporate my editorial
comments that I spent a lot of time undoing the damage and building good
individual relationships with the writers.
As corny as it sounds, I emphasized the team approach. Nobody writes a
manual alone. In addition to the technical sources, there are editors and
artists as well writers. Together you all make a better manual
In other words, you will ultimately determine your own effectiveness. And
you do it one manual at a time.
--Wayne Douglass
=========================================================
Verity, Inc. Email: wayned -at- verity -dot- com
894 Ross Drive Telephone: 408-542-2139
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 Facsimile: 408-542-2040
Connecting People with Information: http://www.verity.com
=========================================================
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
