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Subject:Newbie help From:"Hochstatter, Mike" <MHochstatter -at- PROVIDENCE -dot- ORG> Date:Fri, 11 Jun 1999 14:36:09 -0700
I'm new to Technical Writing (after several years in computer networking)
and have been in my position all of a month. On top of that, I am the first
formal Technical Writer my organization (a large hospital system) has ever
had. Consequently, I am relatively free to make up the parameters of my
position as I go along with little direction from my immediate supervisor (a
blessing and a curse, but fine with me). In my long tenure, along with
remembering where the bathroom is, I've discovered the following:
1. My audience is computer (mostly PC) installation and support technicians
2. My clients (SMEs) are network engineers who develop the systems that my
audience implements
3. I'm somewhere in between numbers 1 and 2.
Two days from now I have a meeting with the SME Manager and the Audience
Manager to discuss "my priorities". I'd appreciate any suggestions y'all
can give for how to approach this meeting. More specifically, I don't want
to appear as something I'm not (like, experienced) so I think I'm looking
for suggestions of questions I can ask of them to better define my role.
Off-list responses are fine.
Thanks!
Mike Hochstatter
Technical Writer, Providence Health System
mhochstatter -at- providence -dot- org