Re: This too is technical communication

Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
From: "Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 12:29:03 -0400

"I do not believe that the best way to validate our profession is to show
where we can add value outside of formal technical writing projects, through
marketing, sales, and other kinds of writing."

While I agree with this on a large scale, I think it varies from position to
position. I work in a small office and I am the only technical writer here.
If I were to do technical writing alone, I would be part time at best. There
are a lot of times when I spend as little as five hours a week on technical
writing...others when I spend 50 hours a week on technical writing.

To be a full time employee at this company, I have had to be willing to do
other things such as proposal writing, marketing, QA, answer phones, you
name it! However, the technical writing is always the top priority and when
it needs to be done, anything else has to wait. I have a great boss in that
regard. He firmly believes that documentation is an essential part of the
software package and will always put that above anything else when it comes
to my time.

Melissa


>From: Troy Klukewich <tklukewich -at- sbcglobal -dot- net>
>To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
>Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
>Date: Wed, 30 May 2007 09:04:38 -0700 (PDT)
>
>I agree that technical writing has an image problem. To some degree, the
>field is starting to mature only now as a formal discipline.
>
>I do not believe that the best way to validate our profession is to show
>where we can add value outside of formal technical writing projects,
>through marketing, sales, and other kinds of writing. There are many types
>of writing and those are their own fields, too. In some ways, saying we can
>write up marketing and other materials because we're writers is a little
>like saying that any developer can write documentation because they can
>write. Each is its own field.
>
>I've worked on projects where writers have been pulled off to work on all
>kinds of deliverables outside of the product. It was always at the expense
>of product documentation. It also showed how little value the team put on
>the product documentation itself, which is perhaps a fundamental core image
>problem right there. Meanwhile, customers were hardly satisfied with the
>product documentation, thanks to understaffed, misdirected writing teams.
>
>Chis really nails our shared responsibility:
>
><quote>
>Instead of closing ranks to defend this mediocre documentation, technical
>writers should fight for better documentation.
></quote>
>
>While STC has a mandate to raise the visibility of the technical writing
>field as a whole, it is up to each and every technical writer to understand
>and communicate their own value and documentation leadership on the teams
>that they serve. In my experience, defining our own value is a never-ending
>series of contextual discoveries. It's a process, not an end point.
>
>I've seen far too many writers taking unthinking direction from misguided
>developers who do not understand or appreciate the technical writing field
>as a discipline. Some developers think it is their job to tell us what to
>do. But most developers don't really know what we do. They have their own
>ideas based on little, if any involvement with the technical writing field
>itself. Who can blame them? They work with what they have. The end result
>is mediocre documentation and increasingly unhappy customers.
>
>It's up to us to set boundaries, give guidance, share our skillful
>expertise, and educate, educate, educate. Communicating our value in a
>professional way, especially under the duress of deadlines, takes courage
>and confidence. I've found with some gentle suggestions here and there,
>developers quickly realize that I know what I'm talking about and can do a
>better job at defining documentation deliverables than they can. It's all I
>do. I should be good at it.
>
>I might add that I also drop quotes from STC's superb publications whenever
>I can to give validity and background to my points. Whey listeners ask what
>STC is, I tell them and the education continues.
>
>Troy Klukewich
>Information Architect
>Oracle
>
>----- Original Message ----
>From: Chris Borokowski <athloi -at- yahoo -dot- com>
>To: Beth Agnew <Beth -dot- Agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca>; TECHWR-L
><techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
>Sent: Tuesday, May 29, 2007 8:45:11 AM
>Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
>
>
>Good point, Beth. I'd like to see them informing
>people as to what technical writers do and why it's
>valuable, or doing so more aggressively. Technical
>writers need to make the world aware that technical
>writing is a skillset, that not everyone can do it,
>and that it is essential to product success.
>
>We've got a public image problem worse than that of
>Microsoft... most people have read or skimmed at least
>one terribly-written junk manual in the last month,
>and they're hopping mad about it. Instead of closing
>ranks to defend this mediocre documentation, technical
>writers should fight for better documentation.
>
>--- Beth Agnew <Beth -dot- Agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca> wrote:
>
> > This is where
> > I think the STC needs
> > to start outreach -- publicizing what we do and how
> > we can improve all sorts
> > of communication, including marketing, financial,
> > and institutional.
>
>
>
>User Interface design blog
>http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/
>Code::Design::UI::Consulting
>http://www.dionysius.com/
>
>
>
>____________________________________________________________________________________Luggage?
>GPS? Comic books?
>Check out fitting gifts for grads at Yahoo! Search
>http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=oni_on_mail&p=graduation+gifts&cs=bz
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References:
Re: This too is technical communication: From: Troy Klukewich

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