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From: Jan Boomsliter <boom -at- CADENCE -dot- COM>
I don't believe that those IBM "grades" were to be interpreted as
comparable to U.S. school grades.
Actually, I have no idea what they were supposed to mean. The idea of
quantifying and categorizing sounds like a declaration of poor
judgment and shirking responsibility.
From: Rosie (NorthCrowe) ncrowe -at- primenet -dot- com
My memory of this is hazy, but when I contracted for IBM about
6 or 7 years ago, they had analyzed the grade-level averages
for various classifications of audience. My memory tells me
that their studies showed about 10th grade level for computer
science engineers/developers and about 8th grade level for management
and clerical folks.
====================================================================
A firm I worked for was writing software for IBM. We were told that
the documentation had to be written at the 8th grade level and they
had the software to check the reading level. We asked to use their software,
but IBM said no, it was proprietary. Somehow, we managed to satisfy
them.
There are several programs that check reading levels and most writers
know about the Fog Index. Writers should be aware of reading levels.
Documentation (or any text) is difficult to read and understand by
the average person if written much over grade 8.
Bob Morrisette
Robert -dot- Morrisette -at- EBay -dot- Sun -dot- COM
