[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
[Author Index (this month)][Thread Index (this month)][Top of Archive]

Re: How do you ensure document quality?

Subject: Re: How do you ensure document quality?
From: "Peter Neilson" <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:48:22 -0400

On Thu, 13 Sep 2012 12:10:13 -0400, david hendler <freetaco -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:

Morning, Whirlers!

I wanted take your pulse about how you and your teams ensure document
quality. Yes, it's a big topic.

I am thinking here about subject & information quality as well as
readability and accessibility. How do you do it? And if you could redesign
how you do document or content quality assurance, what would you do?


A quality effort is generally driven from above. To the folks in the trenches it can vary from, "Thank God someone is finally dedicated to doing things right," to, "SSDD." (Same fertilizer, different day.) Do they want quality, or only the appearance of quality? Or are they trying to match some ISO standard imposed by a person in Brussels who has never written a paragraph of documentation, ever?

The quality manager's view (my wife has been one) is, "I'll get fired or go to prison if I sign the certificate, because this crap does not meet specs. On the other hand, I'll be fired for disobeying orders if I don't sign it. What shall I do? Once again, I'll quit, and hope the next place is more honest."

Some doc quality standards are warped. "Must be Flesch-Kincaid Grade 4 or lower."

Jaundiced opinions abound. I think I own one.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Create and publish documentation through multiple channels with Doc-To-Help. Choose your authoring formats and get any output you may need.

Try Doc-To-Help, now with MS SharePoint integration, free for 30-days.

http://bit.ly/doc-to-help

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-leave -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com


Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwhirl.com/email-discussion-groups/ for more resources and info.

Looking for articles on Technical Communications? Head over to our online magazine at http://techwhirl.com

Looking for the archived Techwr-l email discussions? Search our public email archives @ http://techwr-l.com/archives

Follow-Ups:

References:
How do you ensure document quality?: From: david hendler

Previous by Author: Re: Having fun with your resume - good idea/bad idea
Next by Author: Re: Reporter style writing versus technical writing
Previous by Thread: Re: How do you ensure document quality?
Next by Thread: Re: How do you ensure document quality?

[Top of Archive] | [Author Index (this month)] | [Thread Index (this month)]

What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:

Sponsored Ads