TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Well, I don't have time to poll every SME and conduct research. I sorta
have to take the SME at their word--which can be tough if your doc is
open to review by SMEs with a slightly different spin, because you can
get into a situation where SMEs up the food chain start routinely
overriding and requiring changes of content already approved by SMEs
lower on the food chain.
This idea of not taking the SME's word is exactly the issue in a recent
Intercom magazine article, where a piece on the difference between
online help and printed docs revolves around some tired falsehoods about
the failure of single-sourcing--that is, should the Intercom editors
have taken the article's author at her word or should they have checked
with a SIG or other experts first?
In any event. Even though my SMEs get trumped by managers on occasion, I
still take them at their word unless it occurs to me they might be
wrong.
-----Original Message-----
From: Richard G. Combs [mailto:richard -dot- combs -at- voyanttech -dot- com]
Richard Pineger <no -dot- spam -dot- please -at- totalise -dot- co -dot- uk> wrote:
Obligatory techwriting tie-in: Don't take your SME's word -- especially
if
your SME has an ax to grind.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.
Buy RoboHelp Deluxe starting at only $798: you'll get RoboDemo, the hot new
software demonstration tool that's taking the Help authoring world by storm,
together with RoboHelp Office. Learn more at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
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.
