radical revamping of techpubs

[Technical Writer]

Yes. It is mandatory that conscientious performance of a particular work task include--at a minimum--an acceptable level of quality. Without the intervention of the QA department. The Theory X management view that people are lazy, don't care about quality, and will do everything possible to avoid work unless micromanaged every moment is obsolete, and indicative of little more than a failure of management.http://www.tekwrytrs.com/Specializing in the Design, Development, and Production of:Technical Documentation - Online Content - Enterprise Websites> Subject: RE: radical revamping of techpubs> Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 14:09:08 -0400> From: Dorianne.Gutierrez at PolarisLibrary.com> To: tekwrytr at hotmail.com; gflato at nanometrics.com; framers at lists.frameusers.com> > Got to chime in on this interesting discussion.> > Technical Writer wrote:> > In a world in which dynamic online help files are rapidly replacing hard> copy documents, it seems more useful to focus on developing a skill set> that enables high-volume production of acceptable quality content,> rather than obsessing over trivial (to most users) details of grammar,> construction, or voice.> > I see your point, but I think this is polarizing a non-issue. I don't> think "high-volume production of acceptable quality content" and> "details of grammar, construction, or voice" are incompatible goals. If> I am hiring a technical writer, I want someone who can pay attention to> both. In rapid development environments (whatever you care to call that> model), there are plenty of tools to help automate your high-volume> production. It doesn't take longer to write clearly and consistently.> And I don't think you can safely say "the majority of users" don't care.> Depends on the users. Depends on the product. Personally, I can blink at> a few errors but when they become egregious, I think "Jeez Louise, they> can't even run a spell-checker? What other details can't this company be> bothered with?" The "dynamic online help files" are part of the product,> and I start to question quality control for the whole product.> > Thanks for the thoughtful discussion, everyone.> > Dorianne> 
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