Advice on giving constructive criticism.

[Ben Scott]

On Wed, Aug 1, 2012 at 9:06 AM, Ken D'Ambrosio <ken at jots.org> wrote:
> I have a strong suspicion, though, that the developers are suffering from
> can't-see-the-forest-for-the-trees-ism.  They're so used to what they're used
> to (if you will) that they don't realize just how hard it is to break in as a
> newbie.

  While that certainly does happen, too, I often find the problem is
simply a lack of interested people with the time and talent to write
good documentation.  Writing docs is hard.  It requires technical
knowledge of the subject matter, *plus* good writing skills, *plus*
the ability to get inside the head of someone who doesn't know the
tech, *plus* the time to do all that.

  In other words: If you point this out to them, their response is
likely to be, "Yah, we know.  Want to help?"

  Which is not to say that it isn't worth pointing out.  I'm just
commenting on possible outcomes.

-- Ben