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Subject:Re: Writing vs. Testing From:Mary Choy <mchoy -at- SIRIUS -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 21 May 1999 17:19:18 +0000
Hi Fred,
I've been contract tech writing for about 4 months, and have had a few start-
ups as my clients. Each of them has been a "tech writing" job, but in order to
get something to write about, I've had to use the product. That means, given
there are no written specs and very little if ANY QA staff, testing the alphs,
reporting bugs, redesigning UI. I've never been given a test script, test plan,
test cases, or even solid and consistent test data (you lucky dog!). It's been
fun for me, though. I really don't see it as mind-numbing, because I get to
contribute to improving the end product, and get to see it take shape, so when
I actually get down to writing, it writes itself (practically :) ).
I don't know if this is typical elsewhere, but in the Bay Area (san fran) at
start-ups, it seems to be.