RE: How are Technical Writer's Perceived

Subject: RE: How are Technical Writer's Perceived
From: "Amy Smith/Westford/IBM" <amy_smith -at- us -dot- ibm -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 11:27:41 -0500

Kim McCarter wrote:

On the other hand, most engineers I know (with the wonderful exception of
one
engineer I work with who told me, "Most people don't recognize the value
of good
documentation.") seem to think technical writers are simply annoying.

This reminded me of something that Lisa Higgins, a (former?) member of
this list, posted a few years ago. The full email in the archives
somewhere, but I have part of it printed out and hanging on my bulletin
board as a reminder to get over myself. It begins like this:

"Tech writers are a bunch of whiny, prissy, uptight little bureaucrats,
and nobody likes them. Really. There's a tech writer pathology that
absolutely every writer I've known, including me, has suffered from to
some extent, to different degrees at different times. We almost all have a
little chip on our shoulders....(other good stuff snipped)...I've followed
in the footsteps of of a lot of anal-retentive, annoying tech writers; and
I've probably been the anal-retentive, annoying tech writer that others
have had to follow, too."

The original posting is worth reading. Heck, anything by Lisa is worth
reading. (You can read her columns on the techwr-l site, in the "From the
Sidelines" section).


****************************************************************************
Amy Smith, Domino/Notes User Assistance
Lotus Software/IBM Software Group
Phone: 978.399.5009 Tie line: 399-5009
Email: amy_smith -at- us -dot- ibm -dot- com
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