Re: What to look for in a technical editor

Subject: Re: What to look for in a technical editor
From: "Brian Das" <brian_das -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 17:05:32 +0000


Hi,

I think it's incorrect to prioritize writing skills over subject matter knowledge, or vice-versa. Isn't it a bit like trying to determine if a bike's front wheel or back wheel is more important? If either fails, you're bikeless. (I'm sure a better writer could come up with a better analogy!)

Subject matter knowledge is an outcome of a cardinal rule in technical writing -- know your audience. Good audience analysis includes learning about your users and their goals, which has to include learning about the domain they work in, be it accounting or gardening or rocket science or database maintenance.

I was a writer first, and then a software developer, and now I do both. In my experience, the skills sets are complimentary -- examples include critical thinking, attention to detail and subtlety, an understanding of logic, an eye for visual design, and an ability to stick to a methodology.

Oh...and geekiness helps, too.

Anyway, maybe writers who champion writing and techies who champion teching aren't as different as they seem. And maybe some of the principles of tech writing, if expanded a bit, reveal that subject matter knowledge isn't an item on an ordered list of priorities, but is (along with good grammar and critical thinking and several other skills) one of the requirements of success in the job.

Have a good weekend,
Brian

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