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Subject:RE: This too is technical communication From:"Gordon McLean" <Gordon -dot- McLean -at- GrahamTechnology -dot- com> Date:Thu, 31 May 2007 08:40:25 +0100
Yes, I'd say that PART OF our job is to be an ad-hoc QA and usability
tester, and that Tech Writers should (must?!) be part of the development
process.
It's a role of many hats, but we usually have a unique view of the product
which allows us to query things as a customer would see them, feeding that
back into development makes a better product. And by better product I mean
that both the software is improved and (if you have done your job properly
at an early stage) so is the documentation as it is easier to write.
Hell even being involved to clarify basic terminology can save US some pain
(re the current "compound word usage" thread), as I'm sure we've all had
struggles in the past which largely boiled down to having to articulate
something like "To create an Action action, the Action Editor needs to
receive the .action message"
Gordon
-------------
www.onemanwrites.co.uk
www.onemanblogs.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+gordon -dot- mclean=grahamtechnology -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- c
om] On Behalf Of Ned Bedinger
Sent: 31 May 2007 08:17
To: Chris Borokowski
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: This too is technical communication
Waitaminutewaitaminute. Are you tech writing in a small company or startup
too? I mean, are you doing this stuff because there's no other staff to do
it, or because it is a natural range of things for tech writers to do?
Chris Borokowski wrote:
> I would add to this list. A technical writer should be part of the
> development process, a pre-QA and usability tester, and a reality
> check for the question "Does this product address the needs of its
> users?"
>
> --- Melissa Nelson <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
>
>> To be a full time employee at this company, I have had to be willing
>> to do other things such as proposal writing, marketing, QA, answer
>> phones, you name it!
>>
>
> User Interface design blog
>http://user-advocacy.blogspot.com/
> Code::Design::UI::Consulting
>http://www.dionysius.com/
>
>
>
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