RE: Style guides - doc standards vs processes (WAS: bad leadership an d tech writing)

["Cadorette Johanne" <johanne -dot- cadorette -at- locusdialog -dot- com>]

Small clarification: the "roadmap" was not part of the style guide, it
was separate.

I say "was" because a recent split in the company means that the
department I work for now focuses on just one software product which is
already on the market, so, to be honest, we don't need such a detailed
outline anymore. The roadmap was useful when we were documenting many
different projects that were still largely in the research stage. I'd
never seen that before either (I've only been tech writing for a few
years and am still quite the novice), but we had an excellent
documentation manager who had implemented it. If anything, it helped us
communicate to R&D that documentation needed to be involved every step
of the way and not just at the end of the research process. 

Johanne Cadorette

-----Original Message-----
From: Metzger, Lucinda [mailto:cmetzger -at- dukane -dot- com]
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 10:08 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Style guides - doc standards vs processes (WAS: bad leadership
an d tech writing)


Johanne Cadorette said, 

"I'd like to emphasize the importance of documenting your own
documentation process. If you don't already have one, producing a style
guide is imperative. The style guide will ensure that the documentation
has the same look and feel across the board, and that all the
information is presented in a consistant manner. A documentation roadmap
would also be useful. Map out the documentation process from a-z,
matching each step in the development process to one in the
documentation process."

I'm curious -- how many of you include a "documentation roadmap" as part
of
your style guides? How many of you have written up any type of roadmap
at
all? In my department, we created two guides.

The style manual covers things like:
-Document layout
-Agreed-upon terminology
-Capitalization standards
-Product acronyms
-Trademark information

The procedures manual covers the actual processes, like:
-How doc projects are initiated
-How to pull a product sample from stock
-How to peer edit another writer's doc
-What form to use when sending a doc to review
-How to submit a drawing change to our drafting group
-How to post a doc to our website
-How to archive the files at the end of the project

Between the two guides, someone could resurrect the tech writing
department
if (God forbid) we all get struck by trucks on the way to work.

On that cheerful thought, I'm getting back to work....
Cindy
cmetzger -at- dukane -dot- com




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