RE: Temp/permanent annotations?

["Dori Green" <dgreen -at- associatedbrands -dot- com>]

Kevin wrote:

They all seem to want to stick them to the desktop

***********

I looked again, and that's absolutely correct.  I guess I would

a) use Word's "comments" for annotations, or

b) throw brainstorms into text notes in notepad with very clear locations
specified (e.g., "Section 5, Step 7:..."

c) save them with the same document number, the next Rev number, and a
"notes" suffix, i.e.

     P 422 Rev 0.doc -- the current document
     P 422 Rev 1 notes.text -- notes for the next revision

d) forget about them until the next revision came up on the schedule.  This
is becoming easier as I age.  I'm not sure if it's due to age or recovery
from the obsessive-compulsive disorder that originally made me so good at
this work.

e) remember to review the notes before reworking the document.

As the lone tech writer working with a brand new document control system
here (where the concept of controlling documents is new and exotic), I've
had to use a variation of this strategy for hard-copy change or creation
requests that float over to my desk.  First I send a formal acknowledgement
(a "thank you for the information" memo), then I figure out where they
should go, then I enter them on the database and create a file folder for
them, then I file them in the "to be done" drawer.  When the area comes up
on the schedule, step #1 is to pull the notes from the drawer, update the
database status from "hold for schedule" to "in process", and move them to
the "in process" basket.

Another system could be more elegant, but this keeps my desk and brain
reasonably uncluttered, satisfies my users, and hasn't lost any information
yet.

Dori Green
Technical Writer, QMS Project
Associated Brands, Inc.
Medina, NY Facility


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