RE: Creating a Documentation Kit

["Susan W. Gallagher" <SGallagher -at- akonix -dot- com>]

Cara,

Sounds good so far. The only thing I'd recommend adding to the kit is a
generic outline. Think about whether the information they're developing will
fit into some sort of standard information flow, then provide the people
who'll be writing the docs with a roadmap. One of the worst things you can
do is hand a non-writer a blank piece of paper and tell them to "go to it"!
;-) 

Pitfalls? There'll be lots. People won't follow your instructions, won't
understand how to use the template, ... You'll give training sessions and
nobody will come, then you'll be up till the wee-smalls deleting hard
returns, quotation marks, and parentheses.  ;-) 

Sometimes, the only way to accomplish a job is to collect what others have
written, even though we'd rather write it all ourselves. Good luck!

HTH
-Sue Gallagher
sgallagher -at- akonix -dot- com


> -----Original Message-----
> ...I've proposed the idea of a documentation kit that
> contains a MS Word template (this is an internal standards); 
> a how-to guide;
> and  a pre-formatted Excel project spreadsheet that will help 
> team leads
> plan and track the progress of their documentation. I'll be 
> available to
> help plan the projects, review drafts and provide editing support. The
> managers involved with this project are very enthusiastic 
> about the kit and
> getting their people trained on it.

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