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> And, that attitude--as exemplified by "owning the documents" and
> becoming well-informed--represents the cornerstone of an article that I
> wrote (in a fit of pique at one too many technical writer whines
> about self-inflicted woes) about getting along with developers. See:
>http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/gettingalongindevelopmentgroups.html
And a good article it is, too! Well worth the few minutes it will take to read
and digest it.
However I have a problem sometimes with what Eric urges about getting involved
with the developers, and that has to do with believing their 'go away I'm
really busy!' statements and the slight benefit you *might* get if you go to
lunch with them or socialize with them or just drop around their office to chat
periodically. I tend to believe people when they tell me they're too busy to
talk with me. To that end, I try to get information from them as much on their
schedule as possible - such as sending extremely busy developers one email a
day with the accumulated questions for that day, sent at the end of the day, so
that they can answer the questions whenever they get around to email the next
day. No phone calls or drop in visits unless the sky is falling. However for
that kind of respect, I also expect a thorough review of the draft when I'm
done, unless their manager specifically say no.
This looks to some, especially other writers, like I'm not willing to go talk
to the developers. That's not true - I'm simply trying to be as efficient about
use of developer time as I can.
I thoroughly agree with Eric's points about using and understanding the
software as much as possible, and reading previous editions of the
documentation to help you understand it. I also agree about reporting bugs in
as tactful a manner as possible.
I must admit, however, that it makes me angry when I've been following nightly
changes to the software and staying up to date with all the small changes thus
required in my files, when all of a sudden there is a complete change to the
interface and nobody warned me it was coming, even though I've religiously
attended developer and pubs meetings.
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