Sneak Peek - A day in the Life of A (Software) Technical Writer

JavaSrinivas: "Fine. I'm busy today, so come tomorrow afternoon."

RoboRamaa: "But, but... My manager wants an outline today."

JavaSrinivas: "Actually, you know, the system's quite simple. You can figure it out."

RoboRamaa (shoulders slumped): "Okay. Can you create a login ID for me?"

JavaSrinivas: "You'll have to ask Joshi.NET for that."

He points to a seat behind him, which is empty.

RoboRamaa: "He's not here."

JavaSrinivas: "He was here quite late last night. He'll probably come in later."

RoboRamaa: "Can't you create a login?"

JavaSrinivas: "No, I don't have access rights."

RoboRamaa looks at the application on JavaSrinivas' screen, where some text in bold says, Administrator.

She wants to strangle JavaSrinivas, but instead she says, "When do you think he'll come?"

JavaSrinivas: "He doesn't tell me. Come back later and check."

RoboRamaa goes back to her cubicle, which is at the far end of the floor.

She accesses the application and tries to login with the usual developer logins: Administrator, admin1, admin, admin, test, test1 -- all of them don't work.

She takes a screenshot of the login page and writes three lines about how to login. After that, she checks her Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Rediffmail accounts, and then plays Sudoku, online.

11:30 am

RoboRamaa goes to Joshi.NET's desk. Thankfully, he's there. 

RoboRamaa: I need a login ID created for the CRM application. 

Joshi.NET: Okay, I'll do it later. 

RoboRamaa: Please, can you do it now? I've already lost some time and I need to send the user guide outline to my manager today. 

Joshi.NET: I'll email you the login details in half an hour.  

RoboRamaa: Thanks a lot. 

12:15 am

There's still no email. RoboRamaa goes back to Joshi.NET.

RoboRamaa: I didn't get any email from you.

Joshi.NET: I created the login ID and sent you an email with the information. See.

He shows her the email and she notices that her name has been spelled wrong.

RoboRamaa: It's Ramaa, with two 'a's, not one.

Joshi.NET: Oh, two 'a's? Numerology spelling ah? Sorry. Let me send it again.

He types the email address correctly this time and sends the email.

RoboRamaa: Thanks.

RoboRamaa goes back to her desk and the email is there. She accesses the system and is able to finally log in to the application.

She can't make head or tail of what's going on. There are so many modules. Also, it's lunchtime and she's hungry.

***

1:30 pm 

Post-lunch, food coma is starting to set in. RoboRamaa is still not able to figure out the application. She starts writing an email to her favorite technical writing group, also cross-posting to another group, asking for solutions to her predicament.

2:15 pm

She goes back to figuring out the application again. 

2:30 pm

The responses to her email are pouring in. Some have sent offline responses only to her. She thinks about what a great community she's a part of, and starts replying to all the emails.

4:45 pm

She follows the advice given in the emails and creates an outline. It's tough but she somehow manages it. 

5:45 pm 

She emails the outline to her manager, telling him about the problem of scheduling a meeting with JavaSrinivas. 

6:00 pm 

She has to leave, otherwise she'll miss the first bus at 6:15 pm.  

6:18 pm

She's seated in the bus. She thinks about her tiring day and a thought flashes across her mind: "Why don't developers care about documentation or technical writers?"

She smiles and thinks that the question will be perfect for the mailing lists. She decides to send the email first thing the next morning. 

After all, tomorrow is another day.

Alfred P M is a freelancer living in Bangalore, who seems to spend all his free time blogging. You can read his blogs at http://wiredal.blogspot.com.