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Subject:pc-manmonth - I had to say it From:Pamela Jasper <JISCorp -at- AOL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 29 Apr 1999 00:30:54 EDT
To quote Steve:
>Ah, I see. We shoudn't be niggardly (oops, is that a bad word) in our
>affection for our readers, is that it?
>Ya know, when I read my **** manual, I do feel like the writers care even
>though I can't find the information I'm looking for. It's just got that
>friendly, caring tone.
>C'mon.
>Let's stop the pretentious navel gazing. We write words to help people
>quickly understand processes and procedures and apply that understanding to
>solve an immediate need or complete a task. That's it!
>All this talk reminds me of the self-absorbtion of architects in the 50's
>and early 60's who believed in social engineering through architecture. If
>we change the person's surrounding's, they thought, surely the person will
>change also. We will look back on this thread as we do on those trends in
>utter amazement that we even considered these notions. It's like NATO
>showering Serbia with dictionaries replete with ethnic-neutral names for
>Albanians. People only change because they have a deep need to change. It
>comes from within and never the other way around.
CNBC recently featured an African-American man who is the CEO of a large
global Fortune 500 silicon-valley technology firm (His name and the company
name I forgot). As an African American with friends who also chair large
American corps (i.e. Ann Fudge, CEO of Maxwell House), I feel safe in saying
that if any technical writer/employee wrote a document of any sort that
contained the word "niggardly" that this CEO became aware of, that person
would sooner or later regret it.
The problem with Steve's remark is that he thinks that a technical phrase
that includes the word niggardly can be 'clear' and helpful in aiding one to
'quickly understand the task'. Quite the opposite happens when a reader reads
the word: it captures your attention (and for many socially aware or powerful
women, man-month does this also!), distracts you from whatever 'techie' stuff
you were reading, and angers you. Not because of the explicit meaning of the
term, but because the author didnt take the time to consider that a
significant percentage of their audience and/or consumers (i.e. clients,
reasons why the company is in business) will be women or of African descent.
Offensive language isnt merely an issue of kindness and consideration; its an
issue of power, and the blatant disrespect of the power of others.
That these (and other) terms were once commonly used (by Whom?!) doesnt
mitigate the necessity for tecnical writers to become aware of phrases that
will distract, offend, divert, piss off, and finally motivate the
customer/reader to switch to a competitors product. I think that technical
writers should always keep marketing and sales issues in mind, after all for
many of us that is why we have our current job - to add to the bottom line of
the company.
(As for self-absorbed architects of the 60s, I liked the beautiful-city
movement.)
Another list-reader commented that the manmonth issue seems to be split along
gender lines; I concur.
My original question which prompted this thread regarding man-months has been
answered, and thanks to the many of you who made constructive suggestions and
gave serious attention to the issue (I'm choosing Staff-month).
Regards,
Pamela Jasper
Jasper Information Systems Corp.
JISCorp -at- Aol -dot- com
