If you're going to
describe it, know enough about it to find the words for the job. Words
are also tools, whether they describe other tools, or tornadoes, toys, teeth,
trees, or tractors.
'Start with thinking about the readers; will they be in an outfit that makes
specialized equipment to fabricate safety pins; will it be a safety pin
huckster contacting customers by phone, personal contact, or letter, or
how about some kid's mom up-country in an underdeveloped country
who never even heard about Velcro flaps on diapers, if she ever heard of
diapers at all. Just assume the woman lives in a village where no one
ever heard of safety pins until a K-Mart opened up alongside the town
rice paddy. What I'm gettin' at is: who's the information for? How
much do they really need to know in order to do what they want with the
thing?'
The idea grabbed him and I let him lead. Backs against the kiosk wall,
staring out at the drizzle but not seeing it, we analyzed a safety pin and
how to lay the groundwork to describe it. He unfastened the pin from
his haversack, and using it as an exhibit, we did a parts breakdown,
recalled what we could about the range of popular sizes; we estimated
raw materials requirements per thousand units; debated how to cut the
pin retainer clip from flat stock and form it around the wire firmly so that
a child couldn't separate one from the other; touched on features for
machine tools to fabricate safety pins; then jumped to the economics of
designing robotic machine tools to mass produce and corner the safety
pin market.
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