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I think there isn't any way to *ensure* document quality. The closest you can come is to make sure you have good people who know what they are doing and are diligent in their work.
That said...I think when it comes to being able to find information in a document, the most useful thing is a good index. The TOC is nice but an index can be structured closer to how people really think about what they're looking for, so that makes it easier to find a particular topic.
Information quality - engage and closely coordinate with the SMEs. Put a table in the doc that lists the names of SMEs who contributed and what areas of the topic coverage use their input. Knowing their names are exposed to the readers as the people who vetted the accuracy and precision of the content gives them more of an incentive to make sure they give good input.
Technical reviews and editing by somene else are essential. These are actually the most important things. You MUST have other eyes do the quality checking because you've seen it so many times, potential problems tend to fall off your radar. And you know exactly what you mean when you write something, so you need others to tell you if it isn't clear enough.
From: david hendler <freetaco -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "TechWhirl (techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com)" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Sent: Thursday, September 13, 2012 11:10 AM
Subject: How do you ensure document quality?
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?
Very Respectfully,
David
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