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Subject:RE: Information Engineers From:John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- westnet -dot- com -dot- au>, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 3 May 2007 07:56:59 -0700 (PDT)
> John, I get the impression from your previous posts
> that you think technical knowledge and writing are in
> some way incompatible--that if you learn something about
> writing, it somehow leaves less room to learn
> and hold on to technical knowledge. That might not be what you
> mean, but that's the impression I get.
Wrong impression.
First, some prerequisites.
-It is possible to have someone equally adept at tech and language.
-There will always be any exception.
I'm just saying that some people come up through the education ranks
drawn to the liberal arts side of education (languages and writing)
and some to the science and maths. That is why there are two halves
to the SAT tests (and yes, I expect someone to say "I had twin 720,
or twin 800"...see the first bullet above). This is going to make you
have strengths on one side or another. You can be good at one with
more work, but the other is going to come more natuarally.
> Whether someone's technical skills are stronger than their writing
> skills or the other way around isn't as important as whether their
> skills are sufficient. You need the technical skills to convey the
> correct information and you need the writing skills to convey the
> information correctly.
Sufficient is relative. The more complex the subject, the more
priority is on technical knowledge. Example...to document a simple
technical process, like FTPing a file from one server to another,
very little technical is needed as compared to communications skills.
OTOH, to explain, as an example, single-molecule magnets (SMMs) and
single-chain magnets (SCMs), the proportion of required technical
knowledge is going to be far greater than the communication skills.
In other words, you might have to have a 10X improvement in tecnical
knowledge compared to a 2X improvement in communication knowledge.
Now, take the writer who communicated the FTP process. Put him/her in
the second example and while is communication knowledge is still
acceptable, s/he probably wouldn't be able to get past the second
sentence for lack of technical knowledge.
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
"They say everyone needs goals. Mine is to live forever.
So far, so good."
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