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Subject:You Don't Need to Know How From:Ruth Lundquist <rlundquist -at- prosarcorp -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 25 Jul 2001 09:48:41 -0500
"Jane Carnall" wrote...
> If I am writing instructions on how to program the VCR or how to use
> voicemail on a phone, I don't *need* to know how the VCR works or how
> the phone works...I *do* need to know how the user will use that item
> of equipment or this piece of software.
Andrew Plato, in an effort to argue for the sake of argument <g>,
responded:
> No - you do *NEED* to know...Even if you are not going to document
> exactly how something works, you need to comprehend the functions.
You've just contradicted yourself. Understanding the function of something
is understanding *what* something does, not *how* it does it. Two different
things.
Andrew further stated:
>But a basic understanding of how something works is necessary to
>documenting it properly. It should never be "optional."
Completely untrue. I have know idea *how* my double oven with convection
cooking works, but I could certainly explain to anyone how to cook
everything from a pizza to a souffle using it. I could tell you how to set
the delayed timer to start cooking several hours from now, and I could tell
you how to clean it. I'm a great cook & I'm great at using the oven. I'm
not an engineer & I have no idea how to build an oven or what makes it
work. Thus far, it has not been a problem. ;-)
Now, if I was charged with writing a book about using the oven, I would not
need to know any more than I do now about how the oven works. If I was
writing a book about how to fix the oven, I would need to know more about
*how* it works. But it's simply false to think that in every documentation
situation, the writer needs to know the "how" of the product they are
documenting.
Andrew, I love your always entertaining posts, but sometimes you remind me
of a saying used frequently by a former boss of mine in situations of
heated debate, "I think we vehemently agree on this point."
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