RE: Gnaargh! Or, I Am Not Psychic

["Sarah Bouchier" <Sarah -dot- Bouchier -at- exony -dot- com>]

Heh.  The last place I worked that had spec sheets used to update the
specs regularly to reflect what they'd actually written.  I couldn't
help feeling this was the wrong way round.

----------------------------------------- 
Sarah Bouchier 
Technical Author 

exony 

________________________________

From: arroxaneullman -at- aol -dot- com [mailto:arroxaneullman -at- aol -dot- com] 
Sent: 13 September 2006 15:01
To: Sarah Bouchier; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Gnaargh! Or, I Am Not Psychic

 

Sarah -dot- Bouchier -at- exony -dot- com said "I've just discovered that, shortly after
both I and the client went through and checked my company's user manual
and online help against the product, the development team made some
major changes to the UI without telling the doc team."

I feel your pain.

Yesterday, I was doing the final edit for a manual that's long overdue
and I notice two similar screenshots have different elements. So, I take
a walk to our friendly developer and ask him which version of the GUI is
most up-to-date. What does he say? "Neither. I changed that entirely in
the last version."  WHAT? Did I miss a memo or meeting?

What is so hard about ensuring the (only) Tech Writer has access to the
most recent version of the software?

Supposedly, now thate we're a part of Big Corporation, we're getting a
project manager and will use those mythical objects known as "roadmaps"
and "spec sheets." 

In the meantime, and in answer to your question, I feel justified in
switching on the 'female dog' mode--when necessary. I'm not very good at
kicking folks in the butt, but I'm learning. It helps to have some new
programmers; the guys who've been here forever have attitude issues.

Good luck knocking heads together--or whatever method works for you.

:)
Arroxane

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