TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Actually, reducing the cycle time of the documentation production
chain as described should not have an adverse effect on quality. In
fact, errors being introduced by the layout people are taking far too
much time as described.
In my experience, there are always tasks to be done when there is time
that can result in better deliverables--for example, working through
the present selection of documents with an eye toward improving the
design, selection, or implementation so that customers and others
involved in the product life are benefitted.
On the other hand, when doing endless re-edits because of a less than
efficient process, there is less time to do the sort of strategic
thinking required for this kind of continuous evaluation.
Next, transitioning to a better system takes a great deal of
time--which, so long as the people there are involved in this kind of
make-work, is not likely to be available.
As for mourning the impending loss of jobs...while personally I
sympathize (having been only sporadically employed for much longer
than I care to contemplate at the moment), in this case it seems much
like the changes in employment when the automobile was becoming common
and carriage builders and buggy-whip makers were quickly becoming
surplus. Sorry, but industries change--and those who lead that change
with reasonable plans to compensate and to re-deploy existing assets
may avoid more serious changes over which they have no control.
As it stands, about the second time there were substantial errors
*introduced* by the layout people, were I the manager there would be a
dramatic change in the process. Engaging competent and knowledgeable
individuals to waste that much time is *not* a good idea in any
environment--let alone one in which competent people are in such short
supply!
I have stated before on this list that I believe that in a more ideal
situation, there would only be a few people charged with the "font
fondling" stuff--leaving the primary writers to only do the most basic
of formatting while being freed to spend their time producing
technically accurate content that is as useful as possible for the
intended audience. That requires that the people doing the layout also
must be competent at *their* jobs--and that, in turn, means they must
not be the cause of introducing errors in content to the process or
they are not worth the candle.
In fact, I would contemplate producing the original documents in a
subset of DocBook or the like, with each output type being subject to
style application in a uniform fashion for consistency. (I would
consider OpenOffice.org for writing and exporting to Simplified
DocBook or the like). Whether Quicksilver were retained for the
formatting and layout chores or not, this process should be done in
such a way that any errors introduced in the layout stage would only
be stylistic ones that could be easily rectified.
At the very minimum, in fact, I would consider co-housing the layout,
editing, and writing people to promote a more collegial atmosphere and
cut down the errors and excuses.
Now, regarding Dick's comment below...as usual, he is very
wise--changes that people embark upon without careful planning often
result in increased costs, at least for a transition period, that are
not always recaptured later.
That said, I hardly can imagine a *less* productive process than the
one that was describec originally in this thread.
I believe the thing to do is to start with the various documentation
customers--to find out how good the existing output may be, and
whether it should be changed in any way. Perhaps, for example, basic
installation instructions should be affixed to each window unit if it
is not already done in this fashion. Maybe the existing catalogs need
revision to make them more accessible--perhaps there should be a new
selection guide for dealing with people in lumber yards that may not
be expert in the field. Perhaps there is some "trick" in installation
that is often forgotten or neglected that might be incorporated. I
would also seek reactions of people in the trade to the documentation
that the competition provides, to see if there are features in it that
may be lacking in the existing product.
In other words, I'd start with a good view of the existing customer
practices and preferences and how these may be best served, and work
backward from there to determine what process should be employed to
produce the best output. Then, I would analyze the best method to
transition to this new process within a reasonable time and within a
reasonable budget of time, money, and available people.
Meanwhile, perhaps Tony can give you a few tips on using a dataflow
diagram to analyze graphically the existing process--which should
yield a very good view of where the process is broken that may be
difficult even for the most backward of managers to ignore. 8:)
David
On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 12:31:51 -0500, Dick Margulis <margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net> wrote:
>
> Saving money is not a sure thing at all. It's a possibility, and it is
> likely to result in tradeoffs in productivity or quality.
ROBOHELP X5 - SEE THE ALL NEW ROBOHELP X5 IN ACTION!
RoboHelp X5 is a giant leap forward in Help authoring technology, featuring all new Word 2003 support, Content Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more! View an online demo: http://www.macromedia.com/go/techwrldemo
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
