Re: Who dreams up these things?

Subject: Re: Who dreams up these things?
From: "Tim Altom" <taltom -at- simplywritten -dot- com>
To: "Ed Gregory" <edgregory -at- home -dot- com>, "TechDoc List" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 1999 11:03:10 -0500

I don't know how you'd have any sort of credentialing process that would be
accepted, at least until certification becomes a reality. Long-time
participants on this list know my views on that subject.

But as to the process, we at Simply Written believe that it's preferable to
have a strongly structured document with rotten content, than to have a
mediocre document with weak structure and barely passable content. With
strong structure, a document can be quicky rewritten and reissued. Without
it, a document is a sagging sack, with no convenient handles. With a strong
structure, multiple writers can work easily on one parent document. That's
what the Clustar Method is designed for: structure. Strong structure permits
great longevity, as the document passes from hand to hand, generation to
generation. If the content is incorrect, that's easy to fix. But a document
with poor structure requires many times more work.


Tim Altom
Simply Written, Inc.
Featuring FrameMaker and the Clustar Method(TM)
"Better communication is a service to mankind."
317.562.9298
http://www.simplywritten.com

----- Original Message -----
From: Ed Gregory <edgregory -at- home -dot- com>
To: Tim Altom <taltom -at- simplywritten -dot- com>; <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 1999 10:03 AM
Subject: Re: Who dreams up these things?


>Anybody who believes they should be permitted to write technical
>documentation because they like to write or because have a B.A. in English
>is mistaken. The same is true for the person who believes that becoming a
>master of the Clustar method (or any other flavor) makes them the perfect
>documentationist.
>
>We can examine great writing and find the patterns that exist within.
>However, it is not only those patterns that make the writing good. It is
>also the ability of the writer to write. It is not the map that we
>remember, but the journey. I'd rather take a few wrong turns while riding
>in a Lincoln than get there without a misstep while sitting in the back
>seat of a Yugo.






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