TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
RE: What then is the SME/TW functional relationship?
Subject:RE: What then is the SME/TW functional relationship? From:greg -dot- hamill -at- teradyne -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 1 Mar 2002 09:47:20 -0500
>Because I work in software, the stuff I write about is often only
>thinly-defined and partially implemented when I begin writing about it. I
>get a copy of the software or a profile on the system running the software
>while it's still in development. I try to do things with it. I crash the
>system, just like the engineers do<G>. I try to figure things out, based
on
>my experience with other systems and on my reading of whatever I can get
my
>eyeballs on that appears relevant. I talk to and listen to a lot of
>engineers, especially those in QA. We use whiteboards a lot. I constantly
>refine the docs, just as the engineers/implementors refine the software.
>Because the software is changing as I write about it, I must rely on SMEs
to
>verify that the docs I write accurately reflect the state of the product
at
>the time we ship Beta and final products. This doesn't mean that I don't
>know the product. Rather, it's a way of making sure that we catch, or at
>least minimize, any discrepancies between what I've written and what they
>understand about the product.
Just my $0.02,
Marguerite
In response to Marguerite's "thinly-defined" material, I coined a new word
last year (or at least I hadn't heard it before). We all writer "vaporDoc"
on uncompleted vaporware.
Our work here is identical. Your second note on changing software is a good
description of any evolving company. Time constraints imposed upon us and
on the SMEs are immediate, constantly changing, and pushed forward as often
as backward.
Greg
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Now's a great time to buy RoboHelp! You'll get SnagIt screen capture
software and a $200 onsite training voucher FREE when you buy RoboHelp
Office or RoboHelp Enterprise. Hurry, this offer expires February 28, 2002. www.ehelp.com/techwr
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
