Re: Hackos and process

[Elna Tymes <Etymes -at- LTS -dot- com>]

Gordon Graham wrote:

> I too have Hackos' book, but I haven't looked at it in 4 years. There's a
> reason why our company slogan is "technical writing for the real world." And
> that's a world I never quite glimpsed in her book. I don't mean to single
> her out, but she is the self-annointed "queen of methodologies" for this
> profession.

She is also a wonderful resource for people who are faced with the problem of
estimating how big the swamp is - and providing some guidance as to how to cost out
dealing with the alligators - for most companies that want at least an estimate of
what they're going to have to pay you to drain the swamp.

> Maybe standard methodologies actually work in some huge firms somewhere. But
> I doubt it. The companies I see just have problems that need fixing. And
> they are *desperate* for anyone who can help them. This is great news  for
> anyone who wants to jump in and do something practical in the real,
> imperfect world that actually exists out there.

One of the things that continues to save our collective butts is to point out our
7-step process in the discussion phase of any new contract, and in particular
handle things like audience definition, what the deliverables are supposed to be,
and the ramifications of iterative reviews.  Those are all process elements,
something that Andrew Plato derides but have proven vital to having an enforceable
contract.  Within the guidelines of that process, however, we work to solve a
client's problems.  But this short process discussion going into a new job provides
the rules whereby we and the client can work together to efficiently handle what
he/she needs done. Without process rules in place, we'd spin our wheels forever in
the review steps, in most cases.  (Because as everybody knows, few programmers or
engineers are EVER satisfied with their first edit.)

Rather than deride process and its adherents, I suggest there's a lot of room for
people to apply a tried and true process to solving a problem, while allowing for
sufficient flexibility to meet unique client problems.  And frankly, in 30+ years
in this business, I've found that judiciously applied, sensible processes actually
speed up getting an accurate, well done document out the door.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems


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