10 things NOT to say to a technical writer
June 20, 2008(source unknown)
- It’s okay—the programmers are writing the user documentation.
- I’ve scribbled down the specs on these bits of paper, discarded napkins and the back of my hand. Just put it together in a nice document by Friday. If you have any questions, none of the development team will be around so you’ll have to talk to the Manager.
- The printer has just delivered all 200 copies and wants to know what a User Manua is.
- The documentation is fine—I ran it through the spellchecker.
- Why do we need you? Anybody can write as good as anybody else.
- Can you type up these notes from our last meeting? Ohhh… I thought you were a secretary…
- You get paid less than the programmers because writing is so easy anyone can do it.
- Geez—It’s only typing.
- But your job description says ‘Other duties as assigned.’
- You mean you actually chose this career?
[This article was first published in the December 2002 CyberText Newsletter]
Hi Rohnda,
Though this comes in the form of humor, but I see this happening invariably. People around the globe just think that “tech writing” is probably the easiest thing around. At times I think are we as “technical writers” responsible for it. They really do not know as to the kind of efforts and planning that go id doing a user manual.
Regards,
Pankaj
I agree with most of the points. Tech writers are always considered as least priority, and lest important activity in IT, far behind development, designing and QA whereas the fct is that good documentaiton is the foundation of long-term survival of any organization. Good documentation reflects the culture and vision of an organization.
[...] is not fully appreciated. Australian technical writer Rhonda Bracey pointed out that she published a similar list on her blog quite some time [...]