Re: Can strong process create writers?

[Laurel Nelson <Laurel_Y_Nelson -at- NOTES -dot- SEAGATE -dot- COM>]

Whether or not a strong documentation process can create a technical writer
is secondary to this question: Who is going to train this potential writer?
The topic of on-the-job tech writing training has been discussed at length
on this list, and everytime it is, I think the same question: Who is going
to train this person?

I would like to hear from people on the list who have been tasked with
training a potential writer. Did management ask you to do this or was it
more subtle; that is, the person is hired and then you find out they have
no experience or college training? How did this affect your stress level?
What about your deadlines?

How much work did you get done on a daily basis when every five minutes you
are asked questions or are told statements like the following: How should I
write this? What do you think I should do with this? What would you do in
this situation? How would you word this? I don't know where to begin; can
you help me? How should I format this? The editor wrote passive
voice/future tense/dangling modifier on this? What's passive voice/future
tense/dangling modifier? The editor wrote that this was awkward. How would
you write it? How do you write a glossary definition? Why should I look it
up in the standards when I can just ask you? I don't have time to write
these procedures in such detail; the users are just going to have to figure
it out themselves.

(Please write to the list if you do respond. I've been there, done that,
and don't ever want to do that again!)

Regards, Laurel


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