Re: Meatball Tech Writing

[MAGGIE SECARA <SECARAM -at- MAINSAVER -dot- COM>]

Sounds like the story of my career. I have almost never had time to do what
"real tech writers" do, and I know I'm not alone.

But it also sounds like there's no time for preparing a cost benefit
analysis or talk to the end users, or anything else, either--at least not
until or unless some breathing space appears.

Maybe the thing to do is to just do a quick and dirty re-write (start with
new format and editting out old wordy garbage) on one of the shorter
projects. Put in some extra time if you have to on weekends or at home, so
you can show them how much smoother, more efficient, less cumbersome, more
accessible to the user *your* way is. There's nothing like visual aids to
make them appreciate the possibsilities.



Maggie Secara
A Compendium of Common Knowledge, 1558-1603
http://ren.dm.net

"When I'm old, I don't want them to say of me, "She's
so charming." I want them to say, "Be careful, I think
she's armed."    -G. Stoddart


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Andrew Uhl [SMTP:uhl -at- VISLAB -dot- EPA -dot- GOV]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 1999 10:00 AM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Meatball Tech Writing
>
> If the customer wants meatballs, I give 'em meatballs. I cook up these
> meatballs, however, only after I advise this customer that I *can* do
> filet mignon and that the customer almost certainly prefers the filet.
> If not filet, then I offer a ribeye.
>
> Often times, what we need to do is give the customer a cost-benefit
> analysis to make our case, and the case of the end user.
>
> Cheers.
>
> --
> Michael Andrew Uhl

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