RE: them engineers

Subject: RE: them engineers
From: Chuck Martin <CMartin -at- serena -dot- com>
To: "'Smith, Martin'" <martin -dot- smith -at- encorp -dot- com>, TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 16:05:50 -0700

My Technical Communications degree *is* an engineering degree; at the
University of Washington, TC is a department of the College of Engineering,
not the College of Arts and Sciences (and at the time, one of only 3
full-fledged departments in the U.S.). At the UW, TC is rightly seen as an
engineering discipline, with significant requirements for science and
technical courses needed to earn the degree. There's also a Masters TC
degree, a Masters in Technical Japanese degree (the only one of its kind, I
think), and a Ph.D. program in the works. I won't even mention all the
computer and programming courses I took there and since.

But that's not the real issue. In many companies, a programmer is hired and
does not have to earn any respect at all; he or she is typically already at
that exalted status. Coming in the door, most technical writers are not
presumed to have that equal status or skill level. More often, we're ordered
to "fix it in the docs," especially when programs are created by programmers
who have no training or skill in interface or interaction design.

<story>
A co-worker of mine (I won't specify the time or place) was working on the
first release of a software project. This person's manager said that the
programming would be done, then the results thrown over the fence to be
documented. The throwing was done 2 weeks before the scheduled release (and
the program still didn't have an install/uninstall program). My co-worker
was told explicitly not to comment on or make suggestions about the product
design (even though that's one thing this person is very good at), but to
just document what's there. 2 days before the release, after my co-worker
had slaved over creating a significant amount of documentation (and with my
help when I had the time from my own project), some reference, some
task-oriented, my co-worker's boss (the project leader and engineering VP)
called my co-worker and said that he had just gotten the program installed
on his own computer but could not figure out how to use it, then asked my
co-worker to write more documentation that explained how it worked. Needles
to say, my co-worker was livid, and not just because such documentation
already existed, but because the VP once again paid but lip service to tech
writer involvement and good, usable design, instead letting programmers run
rampant all over the design map.
</story>

Such attitudes by programmers and management exist in far too many places.

--
"I don't entirely understand it but it is true: Highly skilled carpenters
don't get insulted when told they are not architects, but highly skilled
programmers do get insulted when they are told they are not UI designers."
- anonymous programmer quoted in "GUI Bloopers"
by Jeff Johnson

Chuck Martin, Sr. Technical Writer
cmartin -at- serena -dot- com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Smith, Martin [mailto:martin -dot- smith -at- encorp -dot- com]
> Sent: Monday, May 22, 2000 1:36 PM
> Subject: RE: them engineers
>
> Regarding Chuck Martin's assertion that "...we are
> professional engineers
> who are as critical to the success of a project as any
> programmer..." I
> would simply state that I wish technical writers were
> perceived in this way.
> If technical writing degree programs were as rigorous and
> rooted in the hard
> sciences as engineering programs this would most likely be
> the case. As it
> is, many technical writers have not earned this level of
> respect and those
> that have must first prove themselves to the engineering
> staff. The only
> solution I see to this dilemma is to augment a liberal arts
> background with
> coursework in one's chosen industry. A technical writer
> should be able to
> participate as an equal player during engineering meetings
> and not require
> extensive hand-holding while writing documentation.
>

>


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