I once had a job writing abstracts of reports filed to the Social and Rehabilitation Services division of what was then the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Once, the assistant manager of the project had to fly to another city to consult with the author of one such report - a professor at a very well-regarded university. The problem was that no one had been able to write an abstract of his report because no one had been able to understand. it He cheerfully explained that they couldn't understand it because it was gibberish. He was obligated by law to file a report, but he never thought anyone actually read them, so he just wrote down a bunch of nonsense over a reasonable number of pages and sent it in.
I also was employed by the government once to write a report on a department's need to upgrade its computer system. My task was to make matters intelligible to whoever was in charge of the purse strings. I was told later that I had succeeded admirably - thereby saving the taxpayers an amount of money roughly equal to what I had been paid.
I also was employed by the government once to write a report on a department's need to upgrade its computer system. My task was to make matters intelligible to whoever was in charge of the purse strings. I was told later that I had succeeded admirably - thereby saving the taxpayers an amount of money roughly equal to what I had been paid.
Excellent.
ReplyDeleteThose of us slaving away in various technical fields have similar issues communicating with our uninitated masters, as often shown in Dilbert. "Explain the issue clearly in a way that answers all questions. And do that in a single, uncluttered Powerpoint slide."
I'd say the author of your link has a future in writing science-based fiction (except it's hard to say there is a future in such things).