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> Pam Mandel wrote:
>
> > We've got about a month between the code freeze and the docs freeze.
This makes me
> > nervous. Does this seem like a reasonable amount of time to finish up?
> > There's no test time for the docs if we finish up a week before we
burn. Is
> > this a pretty typical scenario for content complete? I imagine we'll
just
> > have to suck it up and order a lot of take out in that last month, but
I'd
> > like to mitigate where possible. I don't want my team to hate me when
this
> > is over.
> > Advice?
>
>Bruce Byfield answered:
>
>(snipped)
> cover if you run out of time. If you can't do a complete job, what
> can you leave out and still do a good job? If you can't do a good
> job, what can you leave out and still do an acceptable job? You
> probably don't have to plan beyond that, but, if you do, the next
> step is to lobby for more time.
And this is the right answer....you do what you gotta do. At our company,
we are fixing problems with the software right up until it goes in the
envelope, including changes (though minor) to the GUI! We have to be
pretty fast on our feet. Luckily, we do not ship paper docs, only PDFs and
online help. Otherwise I'd be looking for another place to work. But we do
not do the traditional shrink-wrapped software, either. Ours is made AFTER
we have a customer (telecom) and it's very specific to the customer. We
get a little better each time, but it's baby steps.
Jane Bergen
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