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Subject:Re: The place of TW theory in real life From:"Christensen, Kent" <lkchris -at- sandia -dot- gov> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 20 Nov 2001 07:58:15 -0700
re: Dick Margulis writes (and I agree) "Knowing stuff is a good thing.
Knowing more stuff is a better thing. ... When is that theory course going
to come in handy? It's going to pay off
when there is a choice to be made among approaches to documentation, and
you're in a room full of people with lots of opinions but a poor grasp of
the desiderata. Suddenly you're going to walk up to the white board and draw
a diagram that clarifies everything and makes the choice obvious. You'll be
a hero."
To which I'd add it seems this makes Andrew Plato's point in a more elegant,
dare I say theoretical manner. Sure appears that when one understands the
"why" of a job and not just the "what," one is better equipped to move on
from the "cya" tasks to real things like "closing the deal" and "it's the
customer, stupid," and is better able to move away from the "me" aspects.
The originator of this thread indicates her plan to move from retail sales
to technical writing. There is lots of theory and practice that transfers
directly between these professions (marketing major here). The most
significant is the notion of putting yourself in the position to best help
your customers, and a career change can be a good way to accomplish
this--for the starter of this thread as well as for Plato's ex-employee.
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