RE: Getting more than nits from reviews?

["Stansbury, Stan" <SBS -at- dolby -dot- com>]

I think you're absolutely right. And there's good backup from
educational psychology. A guy named John Gardner identified 7 different
kinds of intelligence, any you'll get much better information if you let
each reviewer give you what they've got in their strongest way.

If a person is a writer, then you'll get good written comments. If a
person is a talker they can tell you what they can't write. If a person
is kinesthetic, they can draw you a picture or act it out for you easier
than they can write it down. 

I see working with each reviewer's personal style as a core competency
for technical writers, and so I put a lot of energy into it. 

Stan Stansbury  

> -----Original Message-----
> My theory is that some people are either intimidated by the thought of
> reviewing the technical part of the document, or are just intimidated
by
> the
> review process itself. After all, most people are not taught how to
review
> documents!
> 
> For those reviewers who won't--or can't--focus on the content in their
> area
> of expertise, I schedule a meeting with them and go through the
document
> with them one-on-one. Then I can say, "okay, yeah, that needs to be
fixed,
> but don't worry about that. Let's get back to your technical
expertise: is
> this part (whatever) accurate technically?" That approach usually
works,
> and
> the next time a review is needed, they need less "help" from me.
> 
> So, there is no single, really simple answer to this problem. It
really
> does
> depend on the reviewers, the environment, and one's role (or status)
in
> the
> organization. Sometimes the approach has to be tailored to the
reviewer to
> work effectively.

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