Re: observation of tech writer status

["Dick Margulis " <margulis -at- mail -dot- fiam -dot- net>]

Kevin McLauchlan <kmclauchlan -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com> wrote:
>
>On Thursday 31 October 2002 20:45, Bruce Byfield wrote:
>
>> My impression is much the same as Andrew's. If
>> anything,however, I wonder if he's being optimistic.
>> I still keep running into many tech-writers with the
>> attitude he describes. Usually, it's in the form of
>> "I'm an expert in writing. I don't have to be an
>> expert in what I'm documenting," but it seems all
>> too common.
>

...

>I'm a writer who swims among these other 
>creatures, who has a working (but nowhere near 
>expert) knowledge of the various fields, and who 
>knows (or continues to learn) enough about our 
>products and about the fields of expertise that 
>create them, that I regularly get "Hmm. Good 
>question. I'll figure it out and get back to you."

 ... 

>I suppose it is possible that I *could* become an 
>expert in all those fields, but then I'd likely be out 
>of work, because:
>
>a) my company could not afford me and 
>b) I would be doing mostly other stuff than my 
>   first love, which is to write about it all.

I have to side with Kevin here, much as it pains me to disagree with Bruce. Being a writer among non-writers adds value. 

Yes, I need to be able to speak knowledgeably about our products, understand what they are used for and the benefits they provide, and know something about how they work and how they are built. But the point is we have a lot of people whose expertise is not in communication arts but who add value in other ways. 
My expertise is in getting their subject matter knowledge out of their heads and into the heads of their intended audience. 

This enterprise, like most enterprises, requires many kinds of knowledge and many skills. If the hiring criterion was that everyone hired has to know everything about everything, we wouldn't have been able to hire anyone.

So, no, I don't have to be an expert in what I'm documenting. I need to be able to learn about it; I need to be able to understand it and explain it; I need a pretty decent level of knowledge about it. But I don't need to be an expert. And the people who are experts in one or another facet of our enterprise don't need to be expert writers. It helps if they can express themselves clearly enough that I can make out the gist of what they're saying, but they don't have to have my level of expertise in writing in order to keep their jobs. 

It's called division of labor, and it works.

Dick


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
All-new RoboHelp X3 is now shipping! Get single sourcing, print-quality
documentation, conditional text and much more, in the most monumental
release ever. Save $100! Order online at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l

Buy ComponentOne Doc-To-Help 6.0, the most powerful SINGLE SOURCE HELP
AUTHORING TOOL for MS Word. SAVE $100 on the full version and $50 on the
upgrade.  Offer ends 10/31/2002 (code: DTH102250).
http://www.componentone.com/d2hlist1002

---
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.