Re: Is Technical Writing Boring?

Subject: Re: Is Technical Writing Boring?
From: Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: louise -at- poptel -dot- net
Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 06:02:44 -0700 (PDT)

Hi,

As with most things, it depends on what you find boring.

Is writing boring? If so, technical writing will be boring to you.

Is developing a plan for your work boring? If so, technical writing
will be boring to you.

Is learning new technologies, processes, procedures, or systems boring?
If so, technical writing will be boring to you.

Is sitting in design or requirements meetings and culling the documents
produced by those meetings in search of the nuggets of information
needed to put together a coherent understanding of a new product,
process, or feature boring to you? If so, technical writing will be
boring to you.

Is rewriting the same section five times based on review feedback that
changes as development changes boring (or more likely frustrating) to
you? If so, technical writing will be boring to you.

Is ferreting out information with which to update existing
documentation so that it remains current and useable boring to you? If
so, technical writing will be boring to you.

I could go on and on, I suppose, but I hope you get the point. Any of
this, and other things as well, can be boring. Any of it can be
interesting, too. It depends on your personality, your discipline, your
skills, and your interest. I can do Sys. Admin. work; I have done so in
the past, and I still do a bit from time to time. But, frankly, it is
too uninteresting to me to get certification in it. I find it boring.

I came to technical writing from software development. I was okay at
it, but I was never great at it. Rather than finding it boring, I often
found it frustrating. Frustration can be good, but not as a steady
diet. I love technical writing for the variety of things I get to do in
any given day, week, month, or year. Other people, however, find what I
do boring. For them it is; for me it is not.

=====
Tom Murrell
--Don't argue with an idiot. People watching may not be able to tell the difference. (Anonymous)--
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| Last Updated 05/26/2003 |
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