Re: Try selling the sizzle of what you do.

["Bruce Wolf" <bwolf -at- scheidt-bachmann-usa -dot- com>]

OK, I'll bite.

Long ago and far away, in a different life and time, someone I know worked
for a computer startup.  While producing the usual documentation set, this
person got to know the developers and attempted to learn what each one did.
One developer's hand-drawn illustrations of his part of the "State Machine"
were so "roughly" done "Someone" redrew it using FRAMEMAKER graphics.  The
developer saw logical flaws and helped revise the graphic as he rewrote his
code.  The resulting graphic was simple, but elegant.  Developer's boss saw
the drawing, took a copy, and sent it to the manufacturer with instructions
to put the "State Machine" on the chip exactly this way.

IMHO, John is right on target.

;-)
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Posada" <JPosada -at- book -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 4:20 PM
Subject: Try selling the sizzle of what you do.


>
> The participants on this list, if they haven't placed me on their Kill
list,
> know that I've been doing alot of Visio charting for Process flows lately.
>
> Let me tell you a little story, if ya got a minute.
>
> When I got here about a month ago, I learned who were the major players;
> major holders of the information that I needed. I then walked up to each
of
> them over a few-day period, introduced myself and explained what I was
doing
> here. I thought it was necessary because I'd just replaced someone who was
> here for several months and never produced anything...that I can find.
>
> At that introduction, I could see on one of the guy's face THE
LOOK...we've
> all seen it.."Oh, great...another idiot who is gonna waste my time, ask me
> stupid questions, and not do anything to make my life easier."
>
> So. I approached his cube neighbor, introduced myself, and asked him of
what
> process was he "the man". He identified what he did, and over the last
three
> days, we've been diagramming his process.  This morning, we finished the
> drawing and it came out pretty well...17" across and 66 inches long.
Color,
> shading, arrows, and the name of the developer in the corner...his name,
not
> mine.
>
> I taped the pages together so it's about chin high and pushpinned it to
the
> outside of his cube...in the hallway, directly in sight of the guy who I
> thought might be difficult.
>
> No more than 20 minutes later, "Tim" (why? because his name is Tim) comes
> over and says "That's a GREAT looking drawing!"
>
> "Tim! I'm glad you think so! Infact, next week, we're going to start
> discussing YOUR processes to create the same thing!"
>
> All I got was a big smile and a thumbs up.
>
> Consider that there are some very brilliant SMEs toiling away in their
> little cube farms that would LOVE to show that what they do is a six foot
> diagram with "pictures and arrows, and little paragraphs on the back" and
> not just 25 pages of code.
>
> I've said it here before...people don't buy the steak...they buy the
sizzle.
>
> John Posada
> Senior Technical Writer
> Barnes&Noble.com
> jposada -at- book -dot- com
> NY: 212-414-6656
> Dayton: 732-438-3372
>



^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Buy or upgrade to RoboHelp X3 today and receive the WebHelp
Merge Module for FREE ($299 value). RoboHelp X3's all-new
features include conditional text, completely re-engineered
printed documentation output, Context-sensitive Help Toolkit,
single-source layouts, and more!
Order online today at http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l


---
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.