Eight habits of highly effective, value-add information developers

At one time or another, most information developers/technical communicators have had to collaborate with scientific/technical professionals who were the authors of their own research projects or product documentation. As a group, engineers more so than scientists do not view writing documentation as a critical part of the product or their job description, especially as product delivery schedules slip. The information development team in Motorola´s Imaging and Storage Division has adopted eight strategies developed by the author that will help get engineers, programmers, and other technical professionals clamoring for the services of information developers. This paper addresses these eight strategies, which are becoming habits of the information development team