Re: Tech Writer Justification
I am a Business Systems Analyst in the IT dept of our organization. We have recently had a change of top management and now I need to justify why our programmers can't and shouldn't write the documentation [we are years out of date].
The key word seems to be that you are years out of date.
I design and develop computer systems, and much prefer to write my own help modules, user guides, and documentation.
However, I'm a published writer, and genuinely _LIKE_ writing help modules, user guides, and documentation. (I take pride in my work, and good documentation/guides/help modules greatly enhance my systems.) To put it very, very mildly, most programmers don't enjoy this sort of thing, and many aren't good at it. In other words, the world's best programmers aren't necessarily the world's best tech writers.
Since your documentation is years out of date, having it written by the programmers doesn't seem to be working out for you. Perhaps your programmers dislike documentation, perhaps it isn't their strong point, or perhaps they aren't given sufficient time to do it. (Many departments are run in crisis mode, wherein the developers are expected to immediately leap onto the next project, with no time allotted to document the first. I've even been in a department that provided no time to test, never mind document.) Whatever the reason, this clearly isn't working.
It would therefore seem prudent to hire a tech writer whose only function is to provide documentation. Since that would be his sole function, documentation would no longer fall between the cracks.
In the long run, the company would save considerable money, since users would spend much less time trying to figure out the systems, programmers could concentrate on development and implementation, etc.
Moreover, although many programmers do not happen to write good documentation (in most instances, because they dislike it), this is what a tech writer does best. Your company would thus be emphasizing each employee's strengths and interests, rather than making them drag their feet at something they loathe doing, and do not do as well as they do other things.
"Scottie"
(The Scottish Terrier Lover)
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