RE: Bitterness toward technical writers

[Melanie Shook <mshook -at- com2001 -dot- com>]

Some of the comments made, including Andrew's about his chat with the CTO,
imply that writers are talking about fonts, etc., to non-writers. Is this
really typical? I can understand why writers would talk about such things on
techwr-l, but I can't imagine mentioning any such thing to my CTO. 

If I do a docplan, it is to give details about what I plan to do and when I
expect to get it done, and get a signoff. (I'm a FTE.) Usually this is
requested by someone above, not something I generate for fun. (yuck)

Otherwise, I just write things and submit them for review. I decide what
fonts to use, etc., and no one has shown any interest in that whatsoever. If
someone who has authority over me complains about it, I either change it, or
defend my position, but the bottom line is the person in authority decides.
If someone else complains, I take it under consideration, and change when
appropriate. 

Is it really common for tech writers to argue about design with
non-designers? Or is this an apocryphal theory?

Melanie Shook

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