radical revamping of techpubs

[Technical Writer]

The same could be said of pacemakers, missile control systems, and a host of others. That does not change the fact that in most software applications, perceptions of quality are highly subjective.


Subject: RE: radical revamping of techpubsDate: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:09:42 -0700From: gflato at nanometrics.comTo: tekwrytr at hotmail.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com



>>Quality is primarily a subjective opinion;
>>Similarly, whether a product is crap or not is again an opinion, not an objective evaluation that can applied in all cases.
 
When you work in the semi-conductor industry making high-tech instruments that are used in fabs (chip fabrication plants), quality is not subjective. If the tool stops running after a few thousand cycles or a part on the tool fails after only a few months of running, then it's objective. A part broke, the Tool shutdown, quality is crap, that's not subjective.
 
TechWriters in my field document the software that runs on these types of tools. If you go to a fab, you'll see the type of tools I am taking about.
 
BTW, why don't you identify who you are? You act so sanctimonious yet you hide behind a moniker. Have some cohones and tell us who you are.
 

Thank you,
 

Gillian Flato
Technical Writer (Software)
nanometrics
1550 Buckeye Dr. 
Milpitas, CA. 95035
(408.545.6316
7  408.232.5911
* gflato at nanometrics.com
 



From: Technical Writer [mailto:tekwrytr at hotmail.com] Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 9:37 AMTo: Flato, Gillian; framers at lists.frameusers.comSubject: RE: radical revamping of techpubs
 And I know of a CEO who used to either get there first, or let the wannabes struggle over the crumbs. Name of Bill Gates. Quality is primarily a subjective opinion; witness the 90+% of the population of the planet using Windows, despite the occasional Blue Screen of Death, or necessary re-booting orre-installing required. Similarly, whether a product is crap or not is again an opinion, not an objective evaluation that can applied in all cases. The Debian flavor of Linux is considered "the best" by some, and "the worst" by some. The opinions are subjective. Everyone TW wants to believe that he or she is producing quality documentation that creates a warm fuzzy in the user, and makes customers-for-life of the company that produces whatever is being documented. I simply suggest a reality check may be more useful. If the TW is documenting software, perhaps he or she should change fields to one with a slower pace of life (and writing). The option is to accept the realities of the marketplace, and how those influence and constrain the production of technical documentation. In a world in which dynamic onlne help files are rapidly replacing hard copy documents, it seems more useful to focus on developing a skill set that enables high-volume production of acceptable quality content, rather than obsessing over trivial (to most users) details of grammar, construction, or voice. In that direction may lie the future of TW--get it written, get it online, and concentrate on the Pareto principle of satisfying the needs of the majority of users rather than obsessing over the subjective opinions of the minority.    < From: gflato at nanometrics.com> To: tekwrytr at hotmail.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com> > ...or similar biggies realize that time-to-market is everything, > > Time-to-market is not everything if you sacrifice quality. If you're first on the market but your product is crap, the fact that you were first on the market is irrelevant. > > I know a CEO who got fired because all he cared about is being first on the market but his products were crap and failed often. Other company's that were slower to market but turned out quality products, stole marketshare from that company. The company almost went under until the board of Directors wisely fired him and put a new CEO at the helm.> > > -Gillian> > 

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