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Subject:RE: And finally, the sign-off was... From:BMcClain -at- centura -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 31 Oct 2000 15:59:23 -0500
And I second the tracking system. Programmers and SMEs grok it well, It's
also a terrific way to deal with those non-face-to-face contacts with your
technical sources/reviewers. It's easy to set up, too. It can be as simple
as a table with columns Priority, Date, Page, Issue, Change, Initials.
If things start getting Machiavellian, be sure to put time/date-saved and
time/date-printed "stamps" in the change-log document (reply offline for
advice on doing this in Word) and save snapshot copies out of harm's way.
Bill McClain
("Writers are always selling somebody out." - Joan Didion)
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Shaeffer [mailto:jims -at- spsi -dot- com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 2:40 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: And finally, the sign-off was...
I second the tough love approach and the preservation of your master copies.
I add the following:
What seems to be working best in my environment is running document changes
through exactly the same change control and tracking system that is used for
other issues (bugs and engineering change requests).
The formal issues tracking:
1. Forces everyone to prioritize every change they want.
2. Gives documentation issues the same visibility and management review as
everything else.
3. Lets me respond in a professional manner, explaining my position and
deferring some issues for later.
4. Probably cuts down on the 'nicer wording' recommendations, but I can't be
sure.
Deadlines are still deadlines and crunch time is still crunch time, but if
the issues aren't in the tracking system, that's life.
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