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.
Subject:RE: craft vs. science vs. art From:"Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 24 Jun 2002 12:02:16 -0400
Phil Levy <PLevy -at- epion -dot- com> wrote:
>You can't check your own work and find the errors. It's not human nature.
You can't be your own proofreader. We agree on that. You can, however, take ownership of document quality in terms of organizing and writing it well, getting the facts technically correct, and fulfilling your audience's needs. To me, that's what quality control is about. If the writer has no ownership--remember, basketmakers sign their work--then you are going to start with a poorer quality document and spend more money trying to fix it. If you're lucky and have limitless time and money, you'll end up with a document that has as few errors as one the writer owns. But in the real world, you will do better to encourage a craft mentality rather than an assembly line mentality.
>This is why documents written by one person from outline to index are so
>riddled with defects--technically and from a usability standpoint. How long
>before employers realize this? And by the way, if it were possible to
>irradiate documents like hamburger, I would certainly be the first to cheer
>it on. Better that than e coli contamination.
>
Better to start with uncontaminated meat.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Check out RoboDemo for tutorials! It makes creating full-motion software
demonstrations and other onscreen support materials easy and intuitive.
Need RoboHelp? Save $100 on RoboHelp Office in May with our mail-in rebate.
Go to http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
Your monthly sponsorship message here reaches more than
5000 technical writers, providing 2,500,000+ monthly impressions.
Contact Eric (ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com) for details and availability.
---
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.
