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> I've worked on a user guide that became the de facto functional
> specification. At some point during that project, I crossed the
> line between what was already functioning and how things were
> working to what _should_ be functioning and how things _should_
> work. At that point, development started using the drafts I sent
> them for technical editing as specifications to guide their work.
That's fine, but at that point, it stopped being a User Guide (UG).
Unless you were fortunate enough to have development create an
application that followed the Functional Specifications (FS) exactly,
a situation in which I've never been part of, there will always be a
certain number of features that get bumped to the next release.
Besides, the UG is written in a different tone than the FS
Besides...the FS should have been nailed down before development
created the application, but if I follow your progression...
1) Create a version of the application
2) Create User Guide (UG)
3) Evolve UG into Funtional Specifications (FS)
4) Modify the application to comply with FS or the FS to comply with
the application.
Shouldn't it be, instead, that after the FS is created, then the
application development begins. What should be created are Change
Orders appended to the FS that are used to modify the application,
and when incorporated, used to modify User Guide, not the FS.
=====
John Posada, Senior Technical Writer
"I'm not flying...I'm falling with style"
---Buzz Lightyear
-----------------------------------------------
Current gig ending 4/30
Resume: http://www.tdandw.com/Resume_Posada_022202.doc mailto:john -at- tdandw -dot- com, 732-259-2874
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