Re: Not Wanted--Technical Writers

[Chris Hamilton <chamilton -at- GR -dot- COM>]

P.A. Gantt wrote:
> o    Just how would you rewrite this paragraph?
 <snip>
> o    Just how would you rewrite this paragraph?
>

I don't know, because I haven't the foggiest idea who the audience is.
And I think that's the salient point.

The guy in the article is walking in as the white knight. His process is
a black box: just give me what you've got and I'll have my people fix
it. He's apply the same process as everyone else, just with a lower
price 'cause he hires novices. He's successful because he's getting a
commitment to do something we know needs to be done, but we can't get
the commitment from management to do it.

I've seen some perfectly putrid technical writing. How much of it's
because of incompetence on the part of a dedicated tech writer, and how
much is because of:
   o  programmers writing the user doc?
   o  not enough time?
   o  not enough money or people?
   o  someone elsewhere misapplying the documentation because they don't
understand what and who it's for?

One other thought: what happens to the novices after they've been around
a couple of years and they don't have that fresh perspective any more?

--
Chris Hamilton, Senior Technical Writer
Greenbrier & Russel
847.330.4146
http://www.gr.com
chamilton -at- gr -dot- com
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