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Subject:Re: Other kinds of technical writing From:Ben Kovitz <apteryx -at- CHISP -dot- NET> Date:Sat, 24 Oct 1998 18:13:33 -0700
Peter Collins wrote:
> Ben asked, Q: "So here's the question on my mind. Who should write
>these other kinds of technical documents?"
> A: Technical Writers
> Reason: tautology, definition, whatever. One who writes technical
>literature is ipso facto a technical writer, albeit perhaps untrained,
>unqualified, unsuited, incapable and incompetent.
Well, let me rephrase the question, then. Should system analysts,
programmers, engineers, etc. be expected to write internal technical
documents of reasonable quality, or is this kind of writing best treated as
a specialized skill, requiring specialized training or talent that you
shouldn't expect of a programmer? Should you hire a separate person to do
this job for the engineers, treating the engineers as SMEs, or should the
engineers normally do it themselves? What's the best division of labor?
Or in other words, is expecting programmers to write good technical
documentation the same fallacy as expecting programmers to design good user
interfaces?
--
Ben Kovitz <apteryx -at- chisp -dot- net>
Boulder, Colorado
