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If you treat the engineers as nothing but subject matter experts to be
squeezed dry of knowledge and tossed away like a too-stretched metaphor,
you can expect to be treated the same in return. Who cares, you ask? See
who listens to you the next time you have user interface feedback that
will make the documentation easier to write and the product easier to use
(which usually go together).
"Sorry, Mr. or Ms. Tech Writer, but the only role where you fit in is as
content-provider and publisher, and everything about the user interface
and procedure flow is left to us en-gin-eers."
My suggestion is that the more respect you give the engineers, who often
have an interest in the entire product and not just the parts they're
developing, the more respect you'll get in return. I often get feedback
on grammar (sometimes wrong), structure, content, and other issues where
it's sometimes useful and sometimes to-be-disposed-of-diplomatically.
Giving the engineers the (sincere) impression that I value their feedback
gets me the same in return, and many of them have come to value my
(sometimes wrong) UI feedback as much as I do their doc. feedback.
Strangely enough, this mutual respect for each others' work also helps me
get technical accuracy feedback in a somewhat-timely manner. Go figure.
----->Mike
On 5/22/00 7:56 AM, Sona Mehta (sona -dot- mehta -at- haysmt -dot- co -dot- uk) wrote:
>According to me in the whole process of CBT development the only role
>where the engineers fit in is as"SME's" and everything else is left to
>the script writers, visualizers, graphics guys, Analysts( Task and
>audience) and not to forget the sound guys.
>
>Well the engineers as SMEs can comment only on the technical accuracy of
>the content period. One thing I can suggest is in your entire process
>plan for SME presentations and reviews with fixed dead lines.
