RE: Indices and not-indices

["McLauchlan, Kevin" <Kevin -dot- McLauchlan -at- safenet-inc -dot- com>]

Julie Stickler noted:
[...]
> Indexing doesn't need to take a lot of time.  When I wrote my first
> manual (which weighed in at about 400 pages) I spent two days building
> and tweaking the index.  And it doesn't have to be perfect right away.
>  I plan two or three days for indexing a project, be it a manual or a
> help system.   I usually do my indexing during that couple of days
> when the docs are out for review and I'm waiting for edits and
> comments to come back.  

I didn't quite know what to make of that remark. Then I realized: two
different worlds...

In the days when my docs for a product release are out for review, I'm
doing the docs for a couple of other products that are at different
points in their schedules, planning the next several near-term release
schedules (the document part thereof), and attending various meetings. 

I do what I can, when I can, to ensure that the index is more than just
a concordance, but I remember the "old days" when I actually worked for
days (here and there) to make a document's index:
a) large
b) comprehensive
c) useful.

I wonder how many Whirlers have actual planned gaps in projects where
they aren't working on different stages of several other projects,
simultaneously or in tightly interleaved fashion.

 - Kevin







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