Re: how do you....

[Len Olszewski <saslpo -at- UNX -dot- SAS -dot- COM>]

Glen Accardo shares problems we've all faced:

[...]

> 1.  How much time do you allow for developers saying "Oh yea, there is another
>     feature that I didn't tell you about...."

Unless you have some sort of software freeze dates tied to real release
schedules, you have to allow as much time as you need on an open-ended
basis. Your company has to determine whether development schedules must
or must not support the doc schedules. I guess that nine times out of
ten, in most companies, the development schedule wins. Get used to
playing this by ear. You will never really know.  Sorry.

> 2.  What do you do when such a feature ruins the organization of a chapter,
>     section, whatever?  That is, it doesn't fit logically, or perhaps requires
>     too much space, or forces a different approach to explaining something.

You rewrite the section that it affects. First you make it clear to your
manager that the doc schedule will slip, and say exactly why.

> 3.  I don't want to require developers to fill out forms or reports,

Good, they'd never do it.

>     but I'd
>     like to get more day-to-day information about features that have been
>     added, planned, etc.  Any suggestions for a formal line of communications
>     between thirty developers working on about a dozen products and two
>     frazzled tech writers trying to keep up with it all?

Listservs, newsgroups, attend the meetings, and invest in a lot of face
time with your developers. You need to do the leg work. If there is no
regular inclusion of the writers in development meetings, there should
be. You should be on all of the routing slips for spec design, tech
support, qa, and so on. Similarly, your developers should be on all of
your routing lists. If you are not there, at least ask to be there. If
they say "no", you are no worse off.

[...]

> Did the Corinthians ever write back?

Yes, and they sent the *best* leather....

|Len Olszewski, Project Manager  |"Don't say yes until I finish       |
|saslpo -at- unx -dot- sas -dot- com|Cary, NC, USA| talking." - Darryl Zanuck          |
|---------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Opinions this ludicrous are mine. Reasonable opinions will cost you.|