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> From merhar Fri Feb 10 08:29:12 1995
> Date: Fri, 10 Feb 95 08:29:09 CST
> From: merhar (Nora Merhar)
> To: glen -at- softint -dot- com
> Subject: Re: Assumption of Knowledge
> Cc: merhar -at- alena
> Content-Length: 1204
> Glen,
> I think you missed my point, a little. What I said was "not understanding
> INITIALLY." Naturally, as you continue to work on the product, you begin
> to understand it more thoroughly.
> As an example, I recently wrote documentation for software to run a message
> display unit. I understood what a message display unit was, and how our
> customers would use such a product, but I had no idea HOW to use the software.
> I am now, however, an expert on it--I've used it over and over again trying
> to understand how it works, and found problems and shortcuts the engineers
> didn't know about.
> I work for a telecommunications company. When I came here, I didn't know
> anything about telephony. I stumbled a bit at first, but my superiors
> considered it an advantage that I didn't know very much--they wanted me to
> have a user's point of view rather than a SME's point of view.
> It's my opinion that I can learn as much as necessary about ANYTHING to do the
> job right. This doesn't mean I have to be an expert at everything--I just
> have to know what questions to ask (if I was an expert, then I would be the
> engineer, and getting the engineer's salary, wouldn't I?).