Ah ah ah!
Okay, two things. First, whoever on my friends list subscribes to the passionateusers feed, thank you.
Second, oooh ahhhh, OMG! I want to sit behind this woman's desk and watch her type. I want her to be my Yoda. I want to write her software manuals! How to get users to RTFM.
In which she espouses many of the same feelings that I've had, only, you know, succinctly, and with more pictures. Like: users hate having to read docs. Like: by the time they get to a doc, they're already grumpy. Like: Docs need to be more than reference manuals. Like: People learn differently. You know, simple, obvious stuff.
I think one of the reasons I so much prefer working for small companies is that I am not the tech writer at the tail end of the parade. I am a team member, and I get input into the design and interface of the product. I can be a user advocate before it's too late.
However, most of the time, there I am at the end of the parade, sweeping up horse apples. It's important, what I do. I restructure the documents so they're readable, and sanity check, and make sure everything actually works the way they say it should. But I am not controlling the direction of the marching, and I am not making new things. That's harder for me than not getting the shiny and the attention and the good costumes. I want to make new things, good things. I get bored and avoidant if I have to do copy editing and document-level shiftiness.
Second, oooh ahhhh, OMG! I want to sit behind this woman's desk and watch her type. I want her to be my Yoda. I want to write her software manuals! How to get users to RTFM.
In which she espouses many of the same feelings that I've had, only, you know, succinctly, and with more pictures. Like: users hate having to read docs. Like: by the time they get to a doc, they're already grumpy. Like: Docs need to be more than reference manuals. Like: People learn differently. You know, simple, obvious stuff.
I think one of the reasons I so much prefer working for small companies is that I am not the tech writer at the tail end of the parade. I am a team member, and I get input into the design and interface of the product. I can be a user advocate before it's too late.
However, most of the time, there I am at the end of the parade, sweeping up horse apples. It's important, what I do. I restructure the documents so they're readable, and sanity check, and make sure everything actually works the way they say it should. But I am not controlling the direction of the marching, and I am not making new things. That's harder for me than not getting the shiny and the attention and the good costumes. I want to make new things, good things. I get bored and avoidant if I have to do copy editing and document-level shiftiness.