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Re: Mayvbe O/T? - Text development vs tech writing
Subject:Re: Mayvbe O/T? - Text development vs tech writing From:"Dick Margulis" <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 7 Jun 2001 13:53:59 -0400
Judy,
This is called division of labor. Division of labor can be a good thing. It began perhaps 15,000 years ago and got us where we are today in the US--efficient, productive, rich, and personally alienated.
If you have graphics specialists (or formatters or whatever you call them in your organization) who are competent, efficient, and knowledgable about the products you are documenting, they can be valuable partners. It may well be that they are better designers than you are, know more about company style and company templates, and are more efficient with publishing and graphics tools than you.
That means you can concentrate on being an author. It does not mean that you have no say in how your words are presented, however. You can certainly make sketches or write notes (whether in pencil or in Word) that clarify your intent, especially if you have something specific in mind. You can specify what screenshots you need, what callouts they should have, what the legends should say.
This is an opportunity to become more disciplined in your approach to writing, too. You have to write words that convey meaning without the benefit of hand-waving and pointing. For example, you may need to refer to Figure 7.3 instead of saying "the picture on the opposite page." This is all to the good.
However, if you really feel that you are more effective at presenting your material (still in compliance with company style and templates) than anyone else in the organization could be, I'd say make the case to your supervisor that you are more comfortable as a generalist and would not be contributing up to your potential if restricted to a specialist niche. Not everyone is happy working the same way. If you make a good case, your supervisor may relent.
Dick
"Judy Ferril" asks:
>
>Is anyone out there just developing text for user's manuals without regard
>to format, design, graphic choices, etc.?
>
>I am curious how this works as I have been asked to do so and am finding it
>difficult. Just write text and turn it over to a formatter (?). This person
>then chooses graphics, set up, etc. and applies it to the text. I usually
>tie all of these together to make it flow, not to mention instructional. Any
>suggestions for removing my mental block would be appreciated.
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