Re: Technical Writing and Time

[Richard Mateosian <srm -at- CYBERPASS -dot- NET>]

>Today people are far more expensive than computer time. The time
>code takes to run is not as important as the time it takes the
>programmer to write it.

>The same can be said of us technical writers. The manuals I write
>need to be complete but terse because it is the customer's time
>that is important.

If you apply the logic of the second paragraph to the first one, you'll
conclude that the programmer should spend the extra time to make an
efficient program that saves a little time for each of possibly
millions of users.

Unfortunately, most firms reason as you did in the first paragraph.
They save a little development expense, because they know their
customers have no real alternative to putting up with bloated,
inefficient programs.

Even more unfortunately, many firms do not reason as you did in the
second paragraph. They provide as little helpful documentation as they
can get away with. If they put out "terse" manuals, it's rarely to save
time for their customers.

Companies that put out truly useful minimalist manuals find that these
cost about as much to produce as the screenshot-padded useless fat
ones.  ...RM

Richard Mateosian <srm -at- cyberpass -dot- net>    www.cyberpass.net/~srm/
Review Editor, IEEE Micro                Berkeley, CA

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