Re: Storage of hardcopy reviews?

["Martin Page" <mpage -at- csl -dot- co -dot- uk>]

I just bin them otherwise I'd be buried by the stuff.
Here's how it works:

1.SME's mark up hardcopy.
2. I make changes.
3. SME signs off on changes by email.
4. I bin the hardcopy.

If the SME's happy with the results, then it doesn't much matter how you got
there and there's no need for a paper trail. If they hate the results, then
they don't sign off on them and round you go again.

Keeping old review copies, unless you're told to, just creates a stick for
your own back since, if they exist, somebody is eventually bound to want to
consult them for a blame-storming exercise.

M

"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> wrote in message
news:154936 -at- techwr-l -dot-  -dot-  -dot- 
>
> Malkia Payton Jackson wonders: <<I'd like some feedback on the typical
> length of time hard copy reviews of documentation are kept and how are
they
> stored?  I have acquired in a relatively short amount a time, a great deal
> of paper (our reviews are handwritten) and I'm not sure how long to keep
it
> around.  I was under the impression that review comments should be kept as
a
> means of "proving" whether or not information was implemented into the
final
> product.>>
>
> You can't come up with a good answer to this question until you understand
> why you want to keep these reviews in the first place. Given your use of
the
> phase "I was under the impression", I'd suggest that this part of your
> question has not yet been defined. Let me give you three examples (one
> facetious, two practical) to show how different goals lead to different
> solutions.
>
> Goal: To assign blame and administer punishment to whoever missed an
> incorrect technical detail.
> Approach: Store the documents in a nitrogen atmosphere (to prevent decay)
> within a hidden vault until the first customer is maimed by the software.
> When you find out why this happened, use the records to figure out which
> employees to feed to the sharks because of their incompetence.
>
> Goal: To track revisions to the documentation so you'll know which
> developers are most likely to make last-minute changes.
> Approach: Store the documents until after the product ships, then use the
> final round of revisions to identify which programmers were revising
things
> right up to the last minute. When the next version of the software begins
> development, start working with these developers early to minimize the
> amount of last-minute rework must be done.
>
> Goal: To implement a program of continuous improvement. (A less facetious
> version of the first goal.)
> Approach: For each writer, identify the kinds of problems the editor
> repeatedly had to fix. Spend some time working with the writer to teach
them
> to avoid these problems. As a result, the writer works faster (fewer
> revisions required) and the editor spends less time fixing preventable
> problems.
>
> See the basic point? Identify the problem you're trying to solve, then use
> the solution to that problem to define whether or how long to store the
> revised documents.
>
> --Geoff Hart, geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
> Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada
> 580 boul. St-Jean
> Pointe-Claire, Que., H9R 3J9 Canada
> "User's advocate" online monthly at
> www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html
> Hofstadter's Law--"The time and effort required to complete a project are
> always more than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's
> Law."
>
>



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