Re: What's important

Subject: Re: What's important
From: "Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- EXPERSOFT -dot- COM>
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 1997 16:39:41 -0700

David Tillyer writes:
>
><< What would you say was the most important thing for technical people
> to know about writing clearly and accurately? Do you have any tips
> that you give your technical, non-writer, colleagues? >>

Two tips spring immediately to mind:

* Don't include unnecessary information. So often, techies get
caught up in the details of the implementation rather then
the steps it takes to get the job done. If the user doesn't
really need the information, you probably shouldn't include it.

* Construct "right-branching" or "forward-moving" sentences and
paragraphs. If you can somehow get the movement of a sentence/
paragraph across to them, you'll clear up a lot of pesky little
grammar problems, including passive voice.

Sue Gallagher http://pw1.netcom.com/~gscale/susanwg/
sgallagher -at- expersoft -dot- com http://www.expersoft.com/
-- The _Guide_ is definitive.
Reality is frequently inaccurate.

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