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.
David - right on! Unfortunately the only way that TWs
are going to get more involved in these earlier stages
is for them to become less "hands-on". The majority
of TWs that I know can not think unless their hands
are on the keyboard.
Rigorous requirements analysis requires the "M" word -
Modeling - like Data Flow Diagrams. And this requires
taking ones hands off of the keyboard, thinking more
abstract, and taking more risks.
Sorry, I'd like to be nicy nice and not use the "M"
word (let alone the nasty DFD words), but thats the
just the way it is.
If we TWs want to join in the more upfront activities
- and therefore, become more relevant - we are going
to have to develop a reputation of being more than
just crafters of words. The Requriements engineering
community knows the limitations of just using straight
text in requirements specification. They are not
going to let us join the party unless we bring more to
the table.
Tony Markos
Show Me Your DFDs
--- David Neeley <dbneeley -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
One way to minimize those [SDLC] failures, I believe,
is for a competent tech writer to be involved from the
earliest states of needs analysis and creation of the
requirements documents that both the
customer (if any at this point) and development must
agree upon.
Unfortunately, too often the tech writers are called
in much too late...
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Take Yahoo! Mail with you! Get it on your mobile phone. http://mobile.yahoo.com/maildemo
ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!
RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
