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.
Thanks to all who responded to my query. I know it's difficult to
come up with ratios of developers to techwriters, but I wanted to have
a reality check to see if my assumption that it should be a full time
job was realistic.
By "everything I can give them by September", I meant printed docs and
online help as a minimum. The software is developed in Progress and
pertains to the financial industry, for example, there are modules to
deal with retail banking, investments, mortgages & loans, accounting,
etc. Quite complex, each module's current documentation consists of
several hundred pages (and in the case of loans, a couple of thousand
pages).
They loved what I presented to them and want a world class
documentation suite - their issue is paying the price for it. They
don't feel it is a full time job, and therefore want me to work in
customer support answering calls, while I work on the docs in my
"spare" time.
Now, they did ask me if I would be willing to "help out" in customer
service initially, but when I realized yesterday exactly how much time
that would take, I started to panic a bit. I'm not a customer service
type person, just a lowly techwriter trying to do a good job.
My next step is to find out who their main competitor is, and how many
techwriters they have ~ presumably the software will have some
similarities.
Thanks again for the input.
Suzette Leeming
--
The things we truly love stay with us always, locked in our hearts as
long as life remains.
- Josephine Baker
New from Quadralay Corporation: WebWorks ePublisher Pro!
Completely XML-based online publishing. Easily create 14 online formats, including 6 Help systems, in a streamlined project-based workflow. Word version ships in June, FrameMaker version ships in July. Sign up for a live, online demo! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l
---
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.
