What then is the SME/TW functional relationship?

Subject: What then is the SME/TW functional relationship?
From: "Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 10:01:19 -0500

Melody Akins responded to Bruce's comments that "I meant: enough knowledge
that you're not not dependent on SMEs to tell you if what you've written is
complete or technically accurate... Conversely, if you are heavily dependent
on SMEs for this information and
make no effort to correct that dependency, that's coasting."

<<Of what use are Subject Matter Experts, then? If a SME is just on the
project as a 'consultant' and has no actual responsibility for the product,
then is the SME to be asked to review the product on 'final approach' only?
Ever?>>

I think you're misreading Bruce's meaning here. In most environments,
programmers and other SMEs are so busy with their deadlines that they can't
afford to give you large amounts of time; that means that you have to spend
the time to do as much research as possible yourself. The more you can
confirm yourself, the less you have to ask them. The goal isn't to do away
with the SMEs (tempting though that may be at times), but rather to use
their time judiciously.

Unless you become an SME yourself and give up writing, you're not ever going
to be as expert as they are--unless they're the ones who are doing the
coasting. That's self-evident, because nobody would claim that product
development is so easy you can do it and still have lots of time left over
to write the docs. Technical writers exist (at least in part) because
developers don't have time to hold down two jobs. Of course, many of them
can't write well either, but that's another issue.

So the trick is to strike a balance. Learn enough that you're not always
banging on the SME's door with questions, and that the questions you ask are
intelligent ones. Get enough of the basic facts correct on your own that you
can ask SMEs to focus on the more difficult facts (or the ones there's no
way for you to verify) when you ask for a documentation review. That's
obviously a subjective judgment call, and varies from product to product,
but the basic point should be clear.

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a
personality, and an obnoxious one at that."-Kim Roper

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now's a great time to buy RoboHelp! You'll get SnagIt screen capture
software and a $200 onsite training voucher FREE when you buy RoboHelp
Office or RoboHelp Enterprise. Hurry, this offer expires February 28, 2002. www.ehelp.com/techwr

Have you looked at the new content on TECHWR-L lately?
See http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ and check it out.

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: Reading books vs. asking questions?
Next by Author: Redundancy - Necessary?
Previous by Thread: Reading books vs. asking questions?
Next by Thread: RE: What then is the SME/TW functional relationship?


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads