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> What advice would you give to a new Technical Writer about
> interviewing SMEs?
Know the answers to your questions before you ask them. At a minimum, have
a hypothesis in your head. That way if the SME's answer seems wildly
different from your hypothesis you can ask intelligent follow up questions
like "Gee, I thought it was..."
> What tips on interviewing SMEs would you give to an experienced
> Technical Writer?
The same. Most tech writers out there treat SME's like priests and
reverends. The fact is, most SMEs are morons doing the absolute minimum to
get paid. Trusting the information from these people is synonymous to
getting investigative news from the National Enquirer.
This is why I laugh when engineers (or writers) blame Microsoft for their
inability to get their job done. When I hear this, I know that its just
good old fashion incompetence and ignorance. They think because their
knowledge of whatever does not perfectly transfer to MS products that this
is because MS products suck. Ha ha. People do the same thing with
Frame-Word. Because Word does not work EXACTLY like Frame - they think
Word sucks. The simple fact is - their mind is so comfortable patterns of
work in Frame that it is not willing to accept the Word patterns of work.
> What have you done or would you recommend doing to establish a good
> working relationship with the SMEs with whom you will be working? What
> would you recommend doing to maintain the relationship?
Stay smart and ask honest, intelligent questions, be proactive, etc. If
you constantly bug SMEs with excruciatingly simple questions you'll drive
them nuts and they won't respect you. Respect their time and their
intelligence and try to find out the answer to questions on your own
FIRST. You really should only go to an SME when you cannot locate the
answer yourself.
> If you have ever had difficulty getting information from non-responsive
> SMEs, what is the most effective way you have found to resolve the
> problem?
If you engage SMEs in intelligent discourse, they won't ignore you. If you
batter them with stupid, kindergarten-level questions all day, they will
ignore you because they have better things to do than give you a
university-level education in engineering. They are not teachers so don't
ask them to educate you. Educate yourself.
> If you have ever had difficulty getting information from non-responsive
> SMEs, what is the most creative way you have found to resolve the
> problem?
Figure out the answer for myself and circumnavigate the SME all together.
> What pitfalls do you think that Technical Writers often fall into in
> their interviews and relations with SMEs?
They turn off their brains and assume SMEs know everything. If you act
dumb and ask dumb questions, people will treat you like a moron.
This is why I laugh when tech writers say they don't get any respect.
Respect is earned through the consistent demonstration of one's
capabilities. Standing around asking dumb questions and making the subject
and verbs agree in sentences is not an impressive skill. Anybody can do
that.
Andrew Plato
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