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.
>1) Do I have a beer?
>Yes - get another one, because this one will be gone soon.
>No - for God's sake, man, get a beer!
Hi, Keith. Thanks.
The trick is to break it down into the smallest possible elements:
1) Do I have a beer?
Yes - Go to step 6
No - Go to step 2
2) Am I allowed to have one now?
Yes - Go to step 3
No - Got to step 8
3) Do I have the money for one?
Yes - Go to step 5
No - Go to step 4
4) Can I find a friend who will give me a beer?
Yes - Got to step 5
No - Go to step 8
5) Buy a beer and go to step 6
6) Drink the beer
7) Quit my job and go to step 3
8) Stay thirsty
The problem with this is that once you start, you can go deeper and deeper.
Example:
at step 5, do you want to add a decision on what kind of beer?
at step 7, do you want quitting your job to be the only option or is there a
decision choice.
Usually, business rules are more black and white, such as "If value <0, use
MA in column 2, if >=0, use SW in column 2"
You get the idea.
-----Original Message-----
From: kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com [mailto:kcronin -at- daleen -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 3:41 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Butt-or-ego insulation query
John "the Pope of Technical Writing" Posada wrote:
> I'm a big fan of visual logic decision trees which I do in Visio to help
me
> determine how to write the instructions.
>
> 1) Do you have a token
> Yes - Initialize it and go to step 3
> No - Go to step 2
>
John, THAT is the coolest thing I've learned on this list in years.
Seriously.
THANK YOU!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A new book on Single Sourcing has been released by William Andrew
Publishing: _Single Sourcing: Building Modular Documentation_
is now available at: http://www.williamandrew.com/titles/1491.html.
Help Authoring Seminar 2003, coming soon to a city near you! Attend this
educational and affordable one-day seminar covering existing and emerging
trends in Help authoring technology. See http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l2.
---
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.
