RE: When the term "Technical Writer" just doesn't cut it

["Michael West" <mbwest -at- bigpond -dot- com>]

Connie wrote:

> You have hit it almost squarely, but I don't think of it as logistic as
much
> as holistic.  [...]
> 
> The tagline I've used for my business for nearly ten years is "the right
> words for the right audience in the right medium"--so very close to how
you
> summarize it!


"Holistic" is bit too new-agey for me. I work for hard-headed engineers who
build really big stuff all over the world.  But yes, your tagline is
remarkably close to what I've just come up with.

One thing I'd like to stress again for the benefit of people new to this
profession is that a good technical communications solution may or may not
involve "writing". The slideshow project I worked on with the CIO was very
well received and yet contained no written text -- only pictures. Not a
single bullet point in the whole thing. The words were provided by the
speaker at run-time. My role was to find or create strong images that
conveyed his ideas and messages. This was his idea, which I enthusiastically
endorsed, and one which paid off handsomely in an environment in which Death
By PowerPoint is an occupational hazard. 

Is that technical writing? Maybe, maybe not -- but a technical writer who
wants to be recession-proof had better be thinking about playing a
communications role, not just a writing role.

Designing and delivering effective communications will get you farther than
"documenting software" ever will. 

-- 
Mike West


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