On 2004.06.27, IRA <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > As an .adp developer, I *greatly* appreciate the effort going into this > documentation effort.
Thanks. > I have to ask though---why can't we get a tech writer actually > assigned to the project?!? We did. You're looking at 'em. :-) > We *have* actual tech writers in this company (unless we laid them all > off)---has anyone tried to get some of their time lately? The problem with tech. writers in general is that they're not software engineers. (I say the same thing about most QA people.) Why is this a problem? Well, a lot of what's required to write good tech. documentation is the ability to Use The Source, Luke (tm) and then distill the interesting or useful bits into literature. As stated above (tech writers != software engineers), this generally precludes them from using Jedi powers (i.e., using the source). (Hint: most orgs are so talent-starved that when a tech writer CAN be a software engineer, they usually end up there, leaving the tech writer pool with just liberal arts types.) So, where does this leave us? With a bunch of tech writers that have to lean on and take time from the already under-resourced software engineering team, who have trouble finding the time to write code, let alone talk to some tech writer who's going to misinterpret details and write totally inaccurate documentation and then ascribe the poor software engineer's name who made the mistake of trying to learn 'em something strange. Boy, that's an awfully cynical view of the world, but trust me: it's an accurate description of my nearly 15 years of experience in the software biz. YMMV, of course. If AOL has tech writers that can check out the AOLserver source, read it, and write useful documentation for the ADP developer audience ... I am ALL about getting a hold of some of that action and putting them to use! Care to introduce me to one of 'em? -- Dossy -- Dossy Shiobara mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Panoptic Computer Network web: http://www.panoptic.com/ "He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70) -- AOLserver - http://www.aolserver.com/ To Remove yourself from this list, simply send an email to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> with the body of "SIGNOFF AOLSERVER" in the email message. You can leave the Subject: field of your email blank.
