Consequences of the engineering approach to technical writing

ABSTRACT

In a series of publications, Edmond Weiss describes the change in both programming and technical writing from an artistic craft to an engineering discipline. The change brought numerous benefits to the users and readers, to the programmers and writers, and to the companies they work for. In exchange for those benefits, Weiss says, writers had to give up control over the content and format of the documentation. They also lost the esthetic pride of creating a work of art and the personal satisfaction of teaching and protecting the reader. Weiss anticipates a future in which technical documentation is generated automatically and the technical documentor's job is merely to feed information databases. In the conclusion, I note a few differences of opinion, but overall I agree with Weiss's view.

REFERENCES

• 1: Edmond H. Weiss, Egoless writing: improving quality by replacing artistic impulse with engineering discipline, ACM Journal of Computer Documentation (JCD), v.26 n.1, February 2002 [doi>10.1145/584731.584733]
• 2: Edmond H. Weiss, How to Write Usable User Documentation, Oryx Press, The, 1991
• 3: Weiss, E. (1993). Of document databases, SGML, and rhetorical neutrality. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, 36(2), 58-61.
• 4: Edmond H. Weiss, The retreat from usability: user documentation in the post-usability era, ACM SIGDOC Asterisk Journal of Computer Documentation, v.19 n.1, p.3-18, March 1995 [doi>10.1145/203586.203588]

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.1 Document and Text Editing
          Subjects: Document management

General Terms:
Documentation, Human Factors, Management

Keywords:
collaboration, documentation development, project management, teamwork