RE: Is this a typical technical writing environment?

["Bill Swallow" <wswallow -at- nycap -dot- rr -dot- com>]

::: What you have to keep in mind is that when dealing with engineers,
you're 
::: frequently dealing with a mind that works entirely differently than a
tech
::: writer's mind. 

No, we just like to say that because it gives us an excuse.

::: The priorities as seen by the engineer are sometimes so different that
it's 
::: as though we're speaking different languages. Case in point, you
mentioned 
::: added menu screens. I had a similar situation once, and when I mentioned
to 
::: the engineer "This is the type of information I'm looking for when I ask
you 
::: if anything has changed in the software." The response was an
incredulous 
::: "You wanted to know about THIS?"

I dunno, it sounds like good ol' miscommunication to me. 

We can go on and on about developers thinking differently than writers, talk
about different values, bad processes, and such all we want. The cold hard
fact is that to get anything done right requires good communication skills. 

Call me crazy, but I thought that is what we technical communicators
specialized in... You'd think we wouldn't need to discuss this over and over
again.

Bill Swallow
wswallow "at" nycap "dot" rr "dot" com