RE: Interesting Article... fewest jobs lost in Tech Writing

["Grant, Christopher" <CGrant -at- glhec -dot- org>]

Hi M,

> Ah, but docs are part of the product as much as the GUI is. 

Not really.  With many applications, such as Web-based apps, the GUI _is_
the product.  No GUI, no product.  Unless you want to go back to the mid
90s, GUIs _are_ products.  Can you imagine using Word or Frame without a
GUI?  

On the other hand, all of these products are functional and usable without
docs.  Even as a technical writer myself, I use things like Frame,
Photoshop, Dreamweaver and RoboHelp without manuals.  Is the online help
useful?  Yes.  But I would use the product anyway if it wasn't there.
Certainly I will be able to do MORE with the product if I have
documentation, but the lack of documentation doesn't preclude me from using
it.  

No GUI often means no product.  No docs means poorly documented product.
IMHO docs are most certainly NOT as integral to the product as the GUI.  

> We only stand out as targets because, as specialists, we appear to be 
> divisible from the rest of the team creating the wealth {and because
everybody 
> else thinks they could do our job :) }

We stand out as targets because we've been determined to be non-essential,
not because we're specialists.  Most devteams are made up of specialists:
they don't consider cutting the UI designer or the back-end developer out of
the process just because they're specilists.  The devteam can deliver a
"product" without documentation, especially if it's not a commercially
available product.  

In my experience, we also stand out as targets because many times, technical
writers are not as involved in the development process as they should be.
As a result, we become a time and resource liability since we need people to
explain stuff to us - stuff that's probably already been discussed in
development meetings or otherwise.  It's important for technical writers to
unobtrusively insert themselves into the development process, and to own the
product they're documenting: by participating, playing, digging, etc. 

If we want to be regarded as important as the rest of the development team,
then we need to be performing and producing at a level commensurate with the
rest of the team.  A good technical writer, fully knowledgable about their
product, can be useful in many more ways than simply producing docs (UI
design, QA, testing, etc.)  Do something that actually _proves_ that nobody
else can do our job.   

-Chris Grant



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