[Sigia-l] Writing vs. Documentation

[Al Selvin]

I wanted to underscore much of what Michelle says in her clear and
interesting post. I also worked as a technical communicator in the
late 80s/early 90s, which led "naturally" into UI design and IA work
as well as requirements, project management, etc. From my experience
the "documentation" perspective can really help. I used to think of
this as looking at a system from a "narrative" point of view -- what
is being presented to the user, what sense can they make of it, what
breaks the meaning, what could help if it were changed. It's a unique
way of looking that other specialties don't necessarily have. It is
also very true (as the original post says) that tech writers "love
saving themselves work" -- it is much better to change the system than
write 150 pages of convoluted description of a bad interface.

Having said that, many tech writers do not see their work in this way.
That is, they don't take any part in design, even when they could.
Rather they take the "output" of what developers or others produce and
see their job just as explaining it. This used to drive me crazy when
I worked in the field.

Al


> From: Michelle Corbin <corbinm at us.ibm.com>
> Subject: Re: [Sigia-l] Writing vs. Documentation
> Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2007 07:37:42 -0500
> As a technical communicator, I feel compelled to offer up some commentary
> to this thread.  :)
>