TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Got Process? From:eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 30 Jan 2002 12:34:12 -0500
Two straw men have been set up in this argument, by Andrew Plato.
First that a process must be automatic.
Second that intelligence and common sense are present in all writers.
No one has ever previously claimed that processes must be automatic and require
no human intervention nor that a process cannot have steps that require thought
and decision. And by the rants about incompetent/less than stellar writers on
the list (many from Mr. Plato himself) I would think that common sense is one of
the least common commodities available.
Any manager that manages by relying only on the common sense and intelligence of
his writers and expects consistent and controllable results is a fool (or at
least someone with very frayed nerves). They are leaving any semblance of
completeness, consistency, repeatability, and on-time outcome to trust and
chance.
The other thing is that if you have but one sign-off form, acceptance test,
check list, progress report, or contract milestone, face it. You have a process.
If you have none of these during the documentation production, but rigorously
test new hires, you are assuming that they have the same internal process as
you.
Everyone has an unwritten process that they follow based on their years of
technical writing experience. What makes them poorer both as a writer and a
manager if they have no written process or refuse to admit to/discuss process is
that they then have no easy way of passing on their knowledge to others so that
they in turn may benefit from that experience.
Eric L. Dunn
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Attention ForeHelp and Doc-to-Help Users! Upgrade your existing product to
RoboHelp for only $299, through January 31st. RoboHelp can import your
existing Help projects! Learn how else RoboHelp can benefit you. www.ehelp.com/techwr
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
