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Subject:Clarity or Talking Down? From:Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- AXIONET -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 29 May 1997 17:47:21 -0400
<Feeman_Kevin_SC2275_at_SATCOM23 -at- SATGATE -dot- SAT -dot- MOT -dot- COM> wrote:
>To make a long story longer, she made the comment that we did >not have to put the clarity in Step 2 that I suggested. She >goes on to say that if the developer's need to be told that, >then "We hired the wrong person!"
In my experience, clarity is never out of place. Just because people CAN
puzzle out vaguely worded instructions doesn't mean they should have to.
What happens if they've never done the procedure? What happens if
they're tired or distracted? A lack of clarity is simply inefficient.
Clarity, on the other hand, means that the people following the
instructions can get on with their main business--doing their job.
Another thing: a lack of clarity often accompanies (or hides) incomplete
or muddled instructions. To paraphrase George Orwell, if you write
simply, you may say something stupid, but at least the fact that it is
stupid will be obvious to everyone.
--
Bruce Byfield (bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com / bbyfield -at- ca -dot- ibm -dot- com)
Technical Writer
IBM Pacific Development Centre
h: (604) 421-7189 o: (604) 293-5781
"You saw me drowning, you said I was a fake & laughed,
Then you jumped right in & used me for a raft,
You shot me down with friendly fire,
You were all dressed up to play Gun for Hire,
The rope you threw me was made of barbed wire;
Put it there, Pal, put it there."
--Richard Thompson
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