Re: Doc headaches for Johnson & Johnson: Confusing instructions force recall

Subject: Re: Doc headaches for Johnson & Johnson: Confusing instructions force recall
From: "Chris Christner" <cchris -at- toptechwriter -dot- us>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 10:00:04 -0600


Third message in a row on a topic I started--HAT TRICK!

Because my first posting on this topic included an ambiguous reference to
outsourcing that prompted a question from Bonnie Granat, I decided to post
(with her kind permission) her question and my reply to forestall others
with the same question:

Bonnie wrote:
>Hi, Chris,
>
>Where does the information that they outsourced their writing staff
>come from?
>Thanks.
>

Chris wrote:
>Hi Bonnie,
>
>Sheer speculation, that's where! It's ironic that in a posting
>highlighting the perils of confusing documentation, I included
>that bit about outsourcing, which also appears to be confusing.
>
>What I meant was that the J&J story was a 7 out of 10 on the tech
>writing examples scale, but outsourcing would have made it a
>10/10. Evidently I could have been clearer (yet another time
>when I wish the list had an edit capability). Indeed, after posting
>the message and thinking about it, I realized that some readers
>would have the same question you did. So when it looked like
>the server problems yesterday had sent my original message
>to oblivion, I redid the story without mentioning outsourcing.
>In keeping with Murphy's Law, however, both finally appeared
>and there you have it.

Bonnie wrote:
>How funny. I didn't get the alternate reading of that sentence
>until I just went back to look at it. Indeed, my reading was wrong
>and there was nothing misleading about what you wrote. You didn't
>say it WAS outsourced. Good illustration of the reader projecting
>her own biases on the text!

The original posting:
> J&J is recalling all Children's Tylenol packages because of confusing
> package instructions.
>
> Details at http://www.jnj.com/news/jnj_news/20050603_104923.htm
>
> If you're a tech writer looking for compelling arguments to convince
> management of your worth, this story is a fine example of the high cost of
> bad docs--I'm sure recalling those products will cost J&J millions in lost
> sales, not to mention the liability lawsuits payouts if that's what forced
> the recall. The only thing needed to make this the perfect cautionary tale
> would be that the confusing instructions resulted from J&J outsourcing
> their writing staff ;)
>
> --Chris

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

New from Quadralay Corporation: WebWorks ePublisher Pro! Easily create
14 online formats, including 6 Help systems, in a project-based
workflow. Live, online demo! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 2005 now has RoboHelp Converter and HTML Source: Author
content and configure Help in MS Word or any HTML editor. No
proprietary editor! *August release. http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
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.



Previous by Author: Doc headaches for Johnson & Johnson: Confusing instructions force recall
Next by Author: Re: Increasing your corporate value (was Outsourcing of Technical Writers Employment)
Previous by Thread: Doc headaches for Johnson & Johnson: Confusing instructions force recall
Next by Thread: Increasing your corporate value (was Outsourcing of Technical Writers Employment)


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads