Re: Secretary Proofing Manuals?
Whirlers,
I checked the Archives, but I didn't find much on the subject directly.
Currently, our company is re-structuring. The technical writers from the
different groups in our company go together and agreed on review
procedure/document process for all of us to follow as a technical writing
group. This has never happen before - in our company, the Windows tech
writers did one thing, and the Unix tech writers did another.
I am very upset and insulted because the "uppers" insist on the executive
assistant proofing all of our manuals before they go out to our customers.
In fact, we have to start including her in our style meetings as well. Am I
just being egotistical? Does anyone else have a similar scenario?
The executive assistant doesn't have any control over the software so why
should she have any control over the manuals? They are products just as
well.
Good heavens, a fresh set of eyes to review the docs, and you're complaining? What a luxury!
Far too often we are so immersed in the products we deliver that we cannot be the best proofreaders. I have rarely had such a luxury. On most of my contracts I was the sole writer; the SMEs read for technical accuracy but were not capable of reading for style, typos, etc.
I've been known to bring home massive engineering reports for my son to proofread. He's now 18, but even at 15 he had a good set of eyes.
Take your proofreaders where you can find them. Make sure they know that their contribution to the project is valued. They're the ones who catch the extra period at the end of a sentence, or the reference to the wrong version number in the footer in the index.
Win
----------------
Win Day
Multimedia Developer
http://www.creativeimplementations.com
mailto:winday -at- creativeimplementations -dot- com
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