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Subject:Engineers as Writers: Unclassified From:"S.North" <north -at- HGL -dot- SIGNAAL -dot- NL> Date:Wed, 18 Aug 1993 09:10:32 +0200
Bradford has a point - where do you draw the line between writers and
engineers? IMHO it is the following:
- a writer can be expected to work faster, cheaper and more
efficiently (I still maintain that absolutely _anyone_ can write a manual
given ten years and unlimited resources. If you want it done for $x and
within 2 months, get a professional).
- a professional writer can be expected to field a far wider variety of
specialised techniques/styles/knowledge/skills. If the writer has finished
the manual and the company then decides that the readership level is too
high, the writer should then know what to do to change it and how. Better,
he should know several different ways to do it and be able to decide/advise
on the best one to choose.
- awareness of the field is the clincher. Knowing what can be done, what
should be done, and what must be done. The very kind of 'domain knowledge'
(call it professional awareness) that we could expect from Internet
participation in this discussion list.
===== Two wrongs don't make a right, but millions make ... a democracy ... =====
Simon North FISTC Quality Group, Software R&D
north -at- hgl -dot- signaal -dot- nl Hollandse Signaalapparaten BV
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