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Subject:Quality checks in a techwriting project? From:"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Mon, 27 May 2002 09:58:23 -0400
Shilpi Kedia wonders: <<how do we monitor quality in a technical writing
project? I could think of using style templates & reviews.>>
You can't measure anything properly until you can define what you're
measuring, so that definition should be your first step. Are you looking for
ways to catch and eliminate errors? Reviews are the obvious solution. Ways
to win the STC publications competition? Make sure to examine the winners
each year and look for commonalities. Ways to eliminate spelling errors?
Hire an editor. And so on. Once you can objectively define what you're
trying to accomplish by this monitoring, you can come up with good ways to
measure it. More importantly, don't just measure quality: figure out how to
use those measurements to identify problems so you can correct them.
If you're an STC member and belong to the Quality SIG, you'll see a short
article of mine ("Practical, effective metrics must solve problems") in
their upcoming newsletter, and (hopefully) a longer version in _Intercom_ in
several months. If not, take a look in the techwr-l archives using search
terms such as "quality", "metrics", and so on.
--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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