RE: Baiting for the single source rant

["Jane Carnall" <jane -dot- carnall -at- digitalbridges -dot- com>]

Michael West wrote:
>>If single-sourcing means "identical content, no modifications",
then of course it's a lame idea. But if it means "common source
documents, with modifications that capitalize on the presentational
differences between print and hypertext", then it is a sound concept
and a worthy goal (while remaining always an elusive ideal).<<

Very definitely. It's a goal impossible to achieve, of course, for any
technical writer with the "Just do it!" mentality: it requires planning,
structure, and an employer willing to deal with a loss of time and
productivity at the start of the project for a long-term gain of time and
productivity down the line.

There are enough employers out there who just want documentation because
software has to have documentation, without particularly caring how good it
is: and there are a lot of software projects where the owner sees investment
in long-term productivity as a waste of time because the projects aren't
really expected to survive long-term: or because quarterly profits are down
and the important thing is to get them up fast for next quarter and worry
about next year next year.

I recently heard that my previous employers, who made me redundant because
they were closing down an entire department at one site in favour of
another, are now planning to move that entire department from the second
site back to the first site... <g> I bet the people who moved to the second
site to keep their jobs are *so* happy now... <ggg> No, this has no
connection with single-sourcing, but it's definitely an example of poor
future planning and it surely gave me a Happy Moment.

Jane Carnall
Technical Writer, Digital Bridges, Scotland
Unless stated otherwise, these opinions are mine, and mine alone.


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and 
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe.  http://ieeepcs.org/2001/

  +++  Miramo -- Database/XML publishing automation.  See us at  +++
  +++  Seybold SFO, Sept. 25-27, in the Adobe Partners Pavilion  +++
  +++ More info: http://www.axialinfo.com  http://www.miramo.com +++

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.