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Subject:RE: Round #4263 with the Client From Hell From:"David Knopf" <david -at- knopf -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 6 Jan 2002 10:46:21 -0800
Elna Tymes identified the 7-step process her firm uses when developing
documentation:
| But the process I'm referring to is one that is generally used
| by software and hardware companies all across this country and
| consists of (1) outline, schedule, audience definition, (2) first
draft,
| (3) first review, (4) second draft, (5) second review, (6) final
draft,
| (7) production.
Andrew Plato suggested that using this process is not necessarily a good
idea:
| The idea that there is some universal software and documentation
| development processes (or universal to Silicon Valley) that everybody
| should use is nonsense. Every firm has their own weird ways of doing
| things. By forcing a client to use a process they don't like,
| you're bound to have trouble with them.
Andrew further suggested that Elna's firm should be more flexible:
| You should
| adapt your processes to fit the client's work patterns.
I am curious to understand just how this would work. Please explain
which of Elna's 7 steps should she omit in order to adapt the process to
meet the client's work patterns. Should she skip the outline? Not create
a schedule? Avoid writing a first draft and instead proceed directly to
the second? Not ask the client to review the interim drafts?
Elna's 7 steps are not some weird, wacked-out, zany, process-crazy
nonsense. They are the generally accepted steps in creating a quality
documntation or user assistance product.
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