From: lorelle@zelda.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Lorelle Mennel)
Newsgroups: misc.writing
Subject: Desktop Publishing/Tech Pubs
Date: 21 Aug 92 15:16:11 GMT
Reply-To: lorelle@zelda.SanDiego.NCR.COM (Lorelle Mennel)
Organization: NCR Corporation, Rancho Bernardo

In Article 3384 of misc.writing, cgates@mitre.org (Curt Gates)
writes:

>At one time, a writer/editor in a tech pubs department
>spent a relatively large part of their time researching,
>analyzing, organizing, and writing information.
>Composition and formatting were done by others, who 
>specialized in that part of the documentation process.  In general, 
>writing and editing skills were rewarded with higher salaries than 
>composition and formatting skills.  With the arrival of
>desktop publishing tools, writers and editors inevitably
>seem to be doing more routine composition work, and less
>of the more demanding research and analysis.  

This is a very interesting topic. I think the main reason tech
writers seem to do less researching, analyzing, and organizing
is because the market windows are so short. Most products seem
to be shipped within a year--even the big system software and
hardware. Add to this that some tech writing groups have had
layoffs, so it's actually more work with fewer writers. In this
type of situation, I see desktop publishing as a major help!
Short development cycles are harder to accommodate when you have
a back-end production process to deal with. Most desktop
publishing programs allow you to create a style sheet or
template for the organization, so the writer really isn't
doing page layout and design.

I'd really be interested in hearing how other tech writing
groups handle producing the camera-ready copy. In my group the
writers create drafts using WordPerfect on a PC. These are
turned in to the production group, which runs them through
a translator to a Unix-based publishing system. They print
the final copies on a 600 dpi printer. We have a book
layout that was designed by the corporate pubs group. Many
writers in my group would rather use a desktop publishing
system. It can take some time to get the camera-ready
copies if production is really busy. Also, we can't
respond as quickly to last-minute changes because it has
to be turned in to production, etc. 

>What does this trend seem to be doing to salaries, or at least to the 
>perceived value of a writer/editor?  In one respect, the extra skill 
>implies an added value.  But, does the larger percentage
>of routine work lead a company to justify a lower pay
>scale?  Anybody seen anything that might indicate a trend?

I think the extra skill is added value. Many tech writing
jobs that are advertised ask for desktop publishing experience.
Seems like a writer who can do desktop publishing would be more
marketable. I can't speak to the salary issue, but I can't see a
company that values documentation lowering the pay scale. A
trend that I see is the need for skills in a variety of
areas--online documentation, video, etc.. Our job descriptions
are being rewritten, and promotions and salary will be based on
the types of skills a writer has.

The Third Quarter issue of STC's "technical communication"
magazine contains an interesting article titled: "Winning
Respect Throughout the Organization." This article got me
thinking about how tech writing groups are regarded in the
organization. Are tech writers considered part of development?
Are the writing groups in a support position? Comments encouraged!
Newsgroups: misc.writing