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<Over the years, she interviewed and hired and worked with a lot of
technical writers, and her observation is that, as a group, we are
really good at writing sequential instructions--instructions typical
of tool use and where order is important.>
<snip>
<Where we run into trouble, and one of the reasons tech writers don't
seem to survive long on this project, is that we are documenting work
flow, where order may be dictated more by best practices than by
necessity, and where the need to perform some steps my be determined
by the results of other steps.>
I say...
Thinking ability is an interesting philosophic question. As someone to whom
logical thinking is fundamental, I find it hard to relate to non-logical
thinking. This means I get go around with an inflated opinion of myself,
but it also means that a lot of good poetry goes right over my head.
Luckily I write prose fiction in my spare time, which (James Joyce
notwithstanding)is often highly structured.
But in response to John Fleming's comments, I think there's a much simpler
answer than how people think. Or maybe its actually related, in a kind of
non-logical way. I wouldn't know.
I think the key point has more to do with what a writer knows when they sit
down to write. Sequential instructions are usually easy to figure out. In
contrast, writing about "best practices" and complicated unpredicable
feedback requires knowledge, research and extensive experience that is
harder to get and grasp.
So the *failure* of writers in the second type of writing has less to do
with how people think than with the effort people put into the job (or in
how much time the manager is willing to commit to). The function might work
this way in an ideal situation, but most people will be approaching the task
from this perspective and will be trying to accomplish this outcome.
Accounting for this kind of information may require logical thinking in the
end, but fundamentally it takes gathering the information, playing with the
application, listening to users and other SMEs.
Now, I must address the whole writing to express vs. writing to inform
issue. Yes, they are two different forms of writing, and yes, some people
are good at one and not the other. Some of the best non-fiction writers I
know are lawyers; they are logical, incisive and they express themselves
well. Maybe it's because they don't get caught up in this "I'm a writer"
syndrome. They are writing to accomplish a purpose, and the better they
write the more successful they'll be at that purpose.
I write both technical material and fiction. I don't have a major problem
with either (yeah, right!). My technical skills--my logical thinking--is a
tremendous asset with fiction and my expressive skills--namely my ability to
construct useful metaphors and apply scenarios--is invaluable when writing
more abstract technical material. Writing is a tool that can be used to
accomplish a myriad of purposes.
I've met bad tech writers (and by bad I mean either ignorant of grammar or
unable to structure data or both). I've met fiction writers who can't seem
to grasp the difference between storytelling and reporting every iota of
detail (Thoreau notwithstanding). I've met plenty of writers and would-be
writers who sashay around spouting about ivory towers and million dollar
royalties. (Note: most real creative writers join the rest of the crowd
steering clear of them.)
But I've never met this mythical tech writer who feels the need to "express"
a user manual (is that like breast milk?) and who thinks their ability to
describe a sunset makes them actually useful in the business world. Does
this person exist? In numbers? Or is there just one that just keeps
getting passed around like the proverbial fruitcake?
More likely there are new graduates who have to work through the transition
process between analyses of John Donne and obscure eastern religions, and a
user guide. They work through it and become good or mediocre tech writers
or national bestsellers or bums, but the next year there's another crop.
If there are people who spend years railing about their ability to emote a
techinical document, they've got bigger problems than whether think
logically or not. Politely show them the door and move on to someone whose
head is a little closer to daylight. I'm sick and tired of getting tarred
with the same brush merely on the basis of my English degree and the four
unfinished novels in my drawer. Snort.
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