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Subject:Re: anyone else in the same boat? From:"Jane S." <judydh -at- total -dot- net> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 21 Dec 2000 10:32:23 -0500
Uh, kinda sorta not really. Aren't startups fun, though?
I would recommend you get a copy of Managing Your Documentation Projects by
JoAnn Hackos. Try to implement a simple process along those lines. What has
worked for me so far is to do the initial analysis of the project formally
(I've changed her Information Plan template considerably, and I think mine
is much clearer to a non-doc person esp. for internal documents), produce an
annotated Table of Contents with a list of internal (and, if you have the
time, external) reference material as the first deliverable, and keep on
writing. I tend to smush my production work into the writing work (that is,
worry about production too early in the writing game). It is most important
to have at least one formal review of your work--if they've seen something
before that they liked, and they want your stuff to be a little more along
those lines, they will tell you. Then, at the end after giving them the
final v. 1 of the doc, have an evaluation process for yourself and then from
the other people. Evaluate them, too, if they were lousy reviewers or
contributors. You're not their secretary or manager.
Keep a project plan running in whatever project tool your company uses. Try
to update it once a week.
If you have time to do a thorough edit and consistency-merge of all prior
documentation, do it, but make sure you bang out an original doc early into
the job.
HTH,
Jane S.
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