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Subject:RE: On degrees and the like... From:"Anthony Markatos" <tonymar -at- hotmail -dot- com> To:jims -at- spsi -dot- com, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com Date:Thu, 30 Mar 2000 16:17:15 PST
Anthony Markatos said:
Training programs need to focus on teaching the main thing that needs
to be done to create clear, concise, comprehensive technical communications:
Obtain a rigorous understanding of end-user's goals.
[Tony went on to state that since few, if any, academic programs are focused
as such, degree TW programs will continue doing what they have been doing -
producing graduates that are more confused than insightful.]
Jim Schaeffer asks:
That is also the main thing that needs to be done by the product designer,
the programmer, the marketer, the route salesman, the telephone support
person, and so on ad nauseum. How does that produce, specifically, technical
communicators and not just good business people? Note, I am not downplaying
the importance of the concept. I am just pointing out that it is universal
to any successful activity.
Tony Markatos responds:
Granted, obtaining this understanding is the main thing that needs to be
done in development and (maybe) marketing. (Route salesman, telephone
support? - I don't see these people having to have the same degree of rigor
in their understanding.) This does not change the fact that obtaining this
understanding is the main thing that a TW needs to do.
A rigorous understanding of end-user goals provides the necessary overall
architecture necessary to effectively organize (chunk) an end-user task
analysis. And effective end-user task analysis is the key input to creating
highly usable (i.e., high-quality) documentation.
FYI: Except for very small systems, a rigorous understanding of end-user
goals is too complex for anyone to have in his/her head. A model has to be
created to capture all the interrelationships between goals and to verify
that one's understanding is complete. Now if these other people
(development, marketing, etc.) have created and verified such a model, then
great - they can simply make a copy of it and give it to the TW to use. Of
course, fat chance that this will ever happen; therefore, a TW, if he/she
wants to create highly usable documentation, must obtain this understanding
his/herself.
Tony Markatos
(tonymar -at- hotmail -dot- com)
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