Re: Anyone have a programmer in the doc group?

[Dick Margulis <ampersandvirgule -at- WORLDNET -dot- ATT -dot- NET>]

David Castro wrote:
>
> How many out there have a programmer on the documentation staff? Or someone at
> their disposal when they need something like a script? How about the writers
> who can also program: are you allowed to write scripts/applets/programs on
> company time? How big are the companies that have this luxury (or what seems
> like a luxury)?
>

David,

Anyplace I've worked where documentation has been seen as an integral
part of the development process, developers have understood the value of
cobbling together a script that would make the writers' lives easier. If
the project required more than an hour or so, however, a
back-of-the-envelope cost/benefit analysis was done to see if the effort
were justified. [Hmmm, not sure I got the subjunctive right, there.]

In addition, many techwrlers have programming experience and regularly
discuss cases in which they roll their own. On one job in an Interleaf
environment, I just took it upon myself to create little utility Lisp
programs because it made me more productive and made everyone else more
productive if they took advantage of the service. I didn't ask for or
receive permission to do so, and I can't imagine any circumstance in
which I would ask for permission.

Hope this helps,

Dick

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