The articles in this issue of Intercom focus on advancing our skills as technical communicators and communicating our value among our peers and in the workplace. In the cover article, “Mythbusting ‘Just Let the Engineer Write It!,’” Daniel Maddux shows how, in many cases, only a technical communicator's specific training will do. He busts a longstanding myth about subject matter experts (SMEs), explaining that technical communication training is essential for the specialized work of technical writing and equivalent to engineering or other types of formal training.
Michael Harvey reviews tech comm fundamentals in “Back to Basics: Skills that Never Lose Value.” He claims there are three basic skills that technical communicators should continually cultivate—reading, writing, and arithmetic. He reminds us how these skills set us apart from other types of writers and communicators and that sharpening these skills can be both challenging and fun.
In “What We Can Learn from Project Managers,” Jeanette Evans and Sandy Moses discuss how to apply project managers' techniques and processes to a range of tech comm projects, such as adoption of a content management system, development of a set of documents, or release of a new help system. With more than 25 years' experience between them, they also provide a step-by-step process to successful project management.
And Jackie Damrau provides the results of a recent discussion she started on the STC LinkedIn Group (see www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=2926&trk=anet_ug_hm) in which she asks members to respond to the question “What Makes a Good Technical Communication Professional?” in just one word. Her goal was to find out how we describe ourselves, and in the process she discovered just how diverse technical communicators' knowledge and skills are.
This issue also marks John G. Bryan's final column as editor of Ethics Case. Thank you, John, for your service to Intercom since 1992. It's been a pleasure working with you and I wish you the best in your future endeavors!
—Liz Pohland
