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Subject:Re: Spurious survey From:Iain Harrison <iharrison -at- SCT -dot- CO -dot- UK> Date:Wed, 30 Jul 1997 10:33:31 GMT
We are currently conducting a survey into spurious surveys about
documentation.
Preliminary findings suggest that 98.75% of recent surveys have
started out with clearly unsustainable assumptions about the use of
documentation, and of these, 86.13% display a complete lack of
understanding of the function, process or methodology of technical
writing.
It would appear that the invention of the electric telegraph has not
affected the way that such research is conducted, and that the
conclusions jumped to are as inaccurate as before.
Seriously, the assumptions in the 'survey' are fatuous.
Of course the majority of documentation of large companies is unread:
it is not intended to be read. Documentation is often provided as a
sales and marketing aid, or to give executives or support teams a
reference source. That doesn't mean that all technical documentation
is unnecessary: try programming your video recorder or adjusting the
ignition timing of your car without technical documentation.
We write documentation for end users that is intended to be used, and
IS used: I have seem the manuals open on people's desks at customer's
sites. We're moving to on-line help because of the difficulty in
providing the information in an easily updated and accessed form on
users' desks.
We also write technical documentation that should gather dust: it will
only be needed if changes have to be made, or if things go wrong.
Of course most of the questions on a tech writers mailing list are
day-to-day FAQs. The definition of a FAQ is that it is asked
frequently. Any working tech writer needs the answer NOW.
For discussion of research into the business, you have to look
elsewhere, probably in educational institutions, where they can afford
the luxury of time o do pure research, but that doesn't mean that
working writers have no interest in research and professional
development.
The focus on software is illusory: of course people who use particular
tools end up discussing the tools. That doesn't give those tools
primacy. A salesman will have an opinion about different models of car
he uses to visit customers, but that has little to do with his sales
skills, except that he wants to arrive cool, calm, collected and on
time.
As for the idea that most technical writers are conscripts from other
fields, I can only speak for the UK, where there are very few tech
writing colleges: all the tech writers I've come across are doing the
job by choice, and almost all are very skilled in their field. I have
to say that there is some difficulty in finding suitably skilled
recruits here, so some companies may fall back on dragooning other
staff into writing.
The conclusion I am drawn to is that the 'survey' is a troll, because
I find it hard to believe that anyone would be prepared for such a
poorly-conceived piece of 'research'.
Iain
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