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Subject:Re: Tech writers who cannot communicate From:Beth Agnew <beth -dot- agnew -at- senecac -dot- on -dot- ca> To:techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Thu, 15 May 2008 23:23:58 -0400
I have encountered far too many managers who couldn't recognize bad
documentation at all. Until the flaws are pointed out to them, or they
compare it with good documentation, they are oblivious. That is why
there are also far too many people working as technical writers who
should be wearing greasepaint and ruffled collars instead. Those of us
who _are_ competent should be continually educating our co-workers and
managers by pointing out excellent examples of technical communication.
We have a lot of fun commenting on the bad examples, but I think we
should be showing off the good ones much more than we do now.
--Beth
Mike Starr wrote:
> Unfortunately, I don't think there's a way we as a profession can promote wide knowledge of what makes a document good technical writing. My approach? Provide the best document possible given the requirements of the client. I'm always glad to explain why I've done something differently from the previous writer, presenting the logical reasoning behind my approach. Hopefully, my shining examples will be viewed by the client as worlds apart from their previous documents. They may not understand why they're better at a detailed level but they ought to say they're great documents.
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