Product Documentation (Was: Are users stupid?)

[Carl S. Gutekunst]

In article <1888 at scicom.AlphaCDC.COM> rcw at scicom.UUCP (Robert White) writes:
>Most companies are unwilling to put what it takes into technical documen-
>tation.

True....

>They hire inexperienced people who may or may not be technically oriented.
						      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's rarely the problem. Far more common is that companies hire writers for
their technical expertise, but don't bother to find out whether they know how
to *write*. What you end up with is user documentation that looks like it
written by an engineer who came late into the project.

I can teach someone the technical stuff, if they are willing to learn. But I
sure can't teach 'em how to write.

Followups to comp.software-eng only.

<csg>