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Now you have one more problem (several, in fact) - explaining the business and the software to the technical writer. This is so difficult, that in all my long c

Now you have one more problem (several, in fact) - explaining the business and the software to the technical writer. This is so difficult, that in all my long career in software development and management, I never saw any company specifically hire a technical writer, though I have done a lot of technical writing myself, on the side.

29athrowaway 6y ago
The technical writer can be involved in the release management and ask for details that then he can use as a starting point. They can help identify gaps in documentation, outdated documentation, etc. They can take care of the clarity, formatting and distribution. You can create a ticket about documentation and assign it to them. Then, while many developers write excellent documentation... some other developers truly SUCK at documenting. Some people like to sound intelligent and their comments read like a choose-your-adventure monologue that cannot be read linearly. Or they use vague, ambiguous language, or overuse acronyms or abbreviations. Or they sign every piece of code they touch like a dog scent marking your entire code base. Or they use profanity, or they get offtopic or humorous... All of that is a distraction from doing my job. The technical writer takes care of those problems for you. They can create guidelines for documentation so that people treat documentation with the respect it deserves.
- zabzonk 6y ago
  About as much could be expected from a throwaway account. > All of that is a distraction from doing my job. What job would that be? Do you actually have one?
  - 29athrowaway 6y ago
    > About as much could be expected from a throwaway account. For privacy reasons as this is indexed in search engines and comments cannot be deleted after 1 hour, forever. > What job would that be? Do you actually have one? I do, and it's none of your business. If you want to participate in a community with an expectation of real life identity go have your discussions on Facebook or whatever.

29athrowaway 6y ago

The technical writer can be involved in the release management and ask for details that then he can use as a starting point. They can help identify gaps in documentation, outdated documentation, etc. They can take care of the clarity, formatting and distribution. You can create a ticket about documentation and assign it to them. Then, while many developers write excellent documentation... some other developers truly SUCK at documenting. Some people like to sound intelligent and their comments read like a choose-your-adventure monologue that cannot be read linearly. Or they use vague, ambiguous language, or overuse acronyms or abbreviations. Or they sign every piece of code they touch like a dog scent marking your entire code base. Or they use profanity, or they get offtopic or humorous... All of that is a distraction from doing my job. The technical writer takes care of those problems for you. They can create guidelines for documentation so that people treat documentation with the respect it deserves.

zabzonk 6y ago
About as much could be expected from a throwaway account. > All of that is a distraction from doing my job. What job would that be? Do you actually have one?
- 29athrowaway 6y ago
  > About as much could be expected from a throwaway account. For privacy reasons as this is indexed in search engines and comments cannot be deleted after 1 hour, forever. > What job would that be? Do you actually have one? I do, and it's none of your business. If you want to participate in a community with an expectation of real life identity go have your discussions on Facebook or whatever.