Re: FWD: Teaching programmers to write

[Christine Pellar-Kosbar <chrispk -at- MERIT -dot- EDU>]

Anon,

I would start with audience analysis and make sure these writer/programmers
understand why analyzing the reader is so important.  Also, any "rule" you find
yourself handing over ought to have a good reason behind it, one that refers
back to helping the readers get their information with as little effort as
possible.

You could start with: Who is your audience?  Why are they reading your doc?
What different levels of background are you expecting?
Consistency of terms is a topic I'd make sure to include eventually.  Another
topic might be how important it is to reread your drafts after setting them
aside for some time.

Good luck,
Christine Pellar-Kosbar
P.S. What is the "ATTW" website?

Anonymous Poster wrote:

> Hi fellow techwriters,
> relationship between programmers and writers has been discussed a lot on
> this list in the last years. And I don't want to start this thread again.
> And I am in a different situation.
> I will have an interview for a new position at the end of the week. The
> company searching a technical writer has no writers yet. All the
> documentation is written by the programmers. They want to hire a tech writer
> to teach the programmers how to write manuals for their inhouse users (the
> company is a bank).
> I have worked as a technical writer for a few years but I have never been in
> the situation of a teacher. I want to present a basic draft in the
> interview, but I don't know where to start.
> So could you please give me some information how I should start. (I looked
> at the ATTW website, but there was not much information for non-members.)
> Any input where and how to start (like web addresses or stories how you did
> it) is welcome.
>
> Anon
>
> From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000==

 From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=