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--- Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com> wrote:
> Another thing: technical writers who don't have some knowledge of
> code - even a limited one - may be at the mercy of what developers
> bother, choose, or remember to tell them. Not only is this
> dependency another reason why developers may despise writers, but it
> means that, in some cases, you can never know first hand whether you
> are doing a good job or not. This dependency is frustrating and
> inconvenient.
YES! This is exactly what I meant when I said "anticipate issues."
I cannot tell you how many times the engineers managed to "forget" to tell me
something. However, because I understand how they built the product and what it
does, when I see something new, I can anticipate their changes and as such
confront them first. This DRAMATICALLY cuts down on the time it takes me to get
information because I can ascertain a lot of it myself.
Similar to what Bruce said, it also lets me get the jump on how users might
object to such a change and discuss the issue with the engineers before it is
cemented in their heads. A lot of the complains tech writers have about
engineers ignoring their UI suggestions are because the tech writers don't
anticipate the UI change until it is too late.
Andrew Plato
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