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.
IEEE has countless proceedings and other pubs. I
doubt you'll be able to find just one that covers
Hardware Specification, because they do that kind
of thing for such a tremendous variety of specific
hardware, from circuit boards to Co-Design of
Hardware/Software for Evolvable Systems. I
suggest you ask the project team engineers what
specific standards are involved, and then see what
you can find at the IEEE Online Catalog & Store :
You'll probably need to join IEEE and one or more
specific SIG to get access to the complete text of
the standards. But then again, you can google the
IEEE # and can often come up with something. And
you might ask the project team engineers for a
login at IEEE (they might resist because of the
membership cost for you), or else ask someone with
IEEE membership to download the standards you
want.
I envy you and I don't. IEEE Standards are among
the most systematic and thought-out technical
information you'll ever see committed to paper.
EEs get certification in some of these standards.
But, in the wrong hands the standards can be used
to produce the most misguided documentation
imaginable. I've worked within the IEEE
Std.830-1998 (Software Requirements
Specification)--it is generic enough to be an
edified template-- just follow the methodology,
and you'll produce a mighty fine requirements
document. On the other hand, I once worked with a
bit-twiddler/code slinger who used 830 to write
requirements for signal proccesing
hardware/software. The manager of this project,
once she saw what the developer was doing with the
specification, realized that they were going to
need a technical communicator's help. The first
draft was already written, so they hired me to
edit it. It was a developmental editor's
nightmare, in spite of following the IEEE 830
Requirements, because this developer had done an
information dump, with no practical analysis and
scoping of what needs to go into just * software
requirements*. The draft I got was a
megalomaniacal attempt to scope everything from
Business Requirements to Software Design to
Service Level Support agreements with specific
customers, interspersed with interface and
function requirements.
So anyway, while I do envy you the chance to work
within an IEEE framework, I am also glad not to
have to sort out the half-assed analysis that goes
into some specifications. Working to IEEE
standards makes you realize just how much work
goes into planning a REAL engineering project. In
software, engineers often have some intellectual
training in the skills needed to do this, but none
I have ever worked with have the experience, much
less the budget, for doing things that way.
Another interesting one is Std. 1063 (IEEE
Standard for Software User Documentation).
Good Luck, and if you get an actual Standard to
work with, how about posting some examples of how
it is a different language. My experience is that
it is a marvel of conciseness, but perhaps your
hardware requirements are more complex than the
environmental controllers and sensory equipment
that my mad scientists lashed up.
Ned Bedinger
doc at edwordsmith dot com
Edwordsmith Technical Communications Co. http://www dot edwordsmith dot com
tel: 360-434-7197
fax: 360-769-7059
ROBOHELP X5 - ALL NEW VERSION. Now with Word 2003 support, Content
Management, Multi-Author support, PDF and XML support and much more!
Now is the best time to buy - special end of month promos, including:
$100 mail-in rebate; Free online orientation on content management
functionality; Huge savings on support and future product releases;
PLUS Great discounts on RoboHelp training. OFFER EXPIRES March 31!
Call 1-800-358-9370 or visit: http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archiver -at- techwr-l -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.
