The Sponge (was employer's mistaken job requirements)

[Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- YAHOO -dot- COM>]

> And the truly ironic aspect of this conundrum is that writers
> who can effectively _learn_ about and _communicate_ about
> complex technologies of any sort rarely, if ever, have
> difficulties learning to use any tools at their disposal.


In my opinion, good writers can learn tools quickly because they are
good sponges.  They soak up knowledge rapidly and can put that
knowledge to work right away.  This is why knowing the subject matter
is so much more important than knowing the tools.  Learning a tool is
well defined process with specific steps and instructions.  For a good
sponge, soaking up this knowledge is easy.  In comparison,
understanding the complexities of say TCP/IP, electronic design, or
geophysics is a monumental task requiring a much greater amount of
brain power.

It is like a college class.  Doing the homework is easy once you
understand the subject matter well.

<SNIP>

> How do you learn new tools (in the narrow sense),
> technologies, or products? I'm not asking about learning
> theories or "how it should be done" and certainly not
> about how your documentation is structured.
> I'm asking about your real experience and approaches
> to learning new stuff on or about the job.
>

I like to think of all my writing work in terms of four stages.

The exploration stage: This is the very beginning of a project and
often the most time consuming. I usually mess around with the tools
and technologies I will need to use and understand. If I am
documenting an application or something tangible I will play with it
for a while.  This stage is very unstructured and often frustrating
since I do not know what to expect.

The Q&A stage: I pound on the SMEs for answers to questions that pop
up while messing around.

The grunt stage:  I pound out documentation based on what is in my
head. This is often the LEAST time consuming portion of a job. Since
the knowledge is already in my head, writing it on paper is merely the
act of sitting at a computer and typing.  That's easy.

The refining stage: I refine the ideas for clarity and ease of reading.

This is merely my little personal thing.  Everyone has a different way
of working, but in my experience, good writers have some kind of
similar process.

<SNIP>

> I rarely want to ask questions about the <whatever>
> until I feel that I have a good grasp of the <whatever>
> and how it's used. That is, I want to ask questions
> of developers or engineers when I've got enough of
> the fundamentals down that I can effectively use the
> engineer's time and mine.
>
> I find that identifying connections between and among
> different products and technologies really allow me
> to understand the technologies well enough to see
> what's significant, different, or worthwhile about them.
>
> Other thoughts? How do you learn new stuff on the job?


In my opinion, the truest measure of a writer is his/her ability to
sponge up complex information.  Anyone can learn how to type, how to
spell, and how to use a word processor.  Not everyone is a good
problem solver or an information sponge.  That takes a special skill
set.

I think it is the same skill set that police detectives and officers
have: an ability to spot patterns and connections.  Good detectives
are able to handle immense amounts of data.  They can sift through
mountains of ideas, evidence, and discussions to locate the core
issues that comprise a case.

Unfortunately, many of the institutions of technical communications
emphasize training and certification in tools and "theories" over
training writers to be good sponges.  Moreover, companies will pay
$1000s to send a writer to some FrameMaker class, but it never occurs
to them to send the writer to the same seminar the engineers or
scientists are attending.  When I worked in consulting, the writers
went to the same developers' seminars all the programmers did.  When
COM was big (it still is), I had to know it as well as the
programmers.

Ultimately, the best way to learn new things is to be open to new
ideas, curious, and patient.  The best sponges I know are
overwhelmingly curious, laid back folks who just love to stick their
fingers in new things.  They rarely debate the merits of Tool A over
Tool B. Mostly, they are just patient. You cannot rush enlightenment.

<plug> Just to get in a personal plug here - this is the exact topic
of my next book, which hopefully will be out in the next six months to
a year - if I can strike a decent deal with a publisher. The books
talks about more than just this topic, and it is a lot funnier.
However, most of it is about learning and working with complex
technologies. </plug>

Andrew Plato
Anitian Consulting, Inc.
www.anitian.com





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