On Tuesday, October 31, 2006, Lisa M. Bronson (TCP) wrote: > It's pretty likely every one of us needs to gather info from SMEs when > writing documentation. A lot of technical communicators have a difficult > time with this. Do you? How do you get people to give you the time and > information you need?
Well, it seems we are all in agreement -- do your homework up front, and then *ask*! In my nearly 10 years here at CSI, I've had only one engineer be difficult. I walked into his office and asked if he had a moment to answer a question. He said, "I suggest you go read the documentation I wrote." (What? an engineer telling me to RTFM? LOL!) I responded, "I have read the doc. It says this, this, and this. What it isn't clear on is blah, blah, and blah, and that's what I need to know." He sat down and answered every one of my questions and has never given me another problem :) Dana W. *************************** Dana Worley Software Product Manager, Marketing Campbell Scientific, Inc. Microsoft MVP, Windows Help 2002-2007 _______________________________________________ Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? Get the scoop at http://www.doc-u-motion.com Your 3D Documentation Community. _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals To post a message to the list, send an email to [email protected] To find out more about the list, including archives and your account options, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com If you need assistance with the list, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
