Re: Baseline Skillset for Technical Writers?

["Alan D. Miller"@educate.com]

Tony Markatos wrote (in response to Horace Smith's comment: "Technical 
Writer is two words. If you aren't technical, how can you write
about something technical?"):

"Easily.  The primary thing that a TW has to do is to determine the 
essential end-user tasks accomplished with the product and how all of those 
tasks interrelate.  The determination of the interrelationships is 
especially important.

"You may have to know some stuff about technology; however, that is 
secondary.  (In fact, a pretty good manual can often be written without 
any
knowledge of the technology employed.)

"Technical Writer is a poor name for our career field."

Sorry, Tony, but I have to disagree with this. (He said, leaping onto his 
soapbox.) While the skills you list are important ones for a TW to have, a 
thorough-going understanding of the technology (s)he is writing about 
cannot be ignored. The TW can acquire that understanding by research and 
self-study, by formal education or training, or any other method (s)he 
finds effective. But the understanding is essential. How else can the TW 
tell the difference between accurate and inaccurate information? (SMEs _do_ 
make errors. Sometimes.)

<Example> (Non-technical types can skip this bit. <g>) The skills and 
knowledge database prepared for power plant operator tasks by an industry 
organization contained six different definitions for the term "ampere." 
This database was populated with data collected by task analysists 
interviewing supposedly qualified (i.e., licensed) operators. All six 
definitions were incorrect! (The _closest_ was "ampere equals current per 
second.") I was helping a client evaluate the technical accuracy of the 
database and whether it would more cost-effective to modify the existing 
data or do their own analysis. They ended up doing their own analysis, 
because there were too many similar errors in the existing data. 
</Example>

How did this happen? (It cost rate-payers millions in extra utility costs 
to fund the analysis, BTW.) The SMEs were wrong, and the analysts did not 
have the basic technical knowledge to spot the errors. (Basic college 
physics tells us that 1 ampere is 1 coulomb per second.)

Can a "pretty good manual be written without any knowledge of the 
technology employed"? Well... Consider the technical accuracy of supposedly 
well-written news and magazine articles on Y2K, nuclear power, medical 
research, (add your favorite topic here). These are mostly written by 
non-technical writers (especially for the popular media). How many times 
have you seen or read information presented as fact that was inaccurate, 
misleading or just plain wrong? More to the point, how would know if 
something you just read was incorrect? Think about it.

The TW's skill set has to include the analytical skills acquired from basic 
training in science, math and engineering.

Another Precinct heard from.

Al Miller
alan -dot- miller -at- educate -dot- com