Re: online or on-line

["Susan W. Gallagher" <sgallagher -at- EXPERSOFT -dot- COM>]

At 3:20 PM 2/6/96, Joyce Flaherty wrote:

>We conceived a system, Xxxxxxx Online.
>We designed the system, Xxxxxxx Online.
>We built the system, Xxxxxxx Online.
>We tested the system, Xxxxxxx Online.
>We debugged the system, Xxxxxxxx Online.
>We refined the system, Xxxxxxxx Online.
>We deployed the system, Xxxxxxx Online, to 50 states and three countries.
>and we continue to maintain and nourish the system, Xxxxxxx Online.

>Our Marketing department advertised and promoted the system,

>                      Xxxxxxx On-Line.


Whether "online" deserves a hyphen or not is a mute point. The
heart of the problem is that you have a marketing department
staffed with short-sighted and inconsiderate people. Whether
it's changing the product name, the logo, the target market,
or whatever, doing so on short notice causes problems to
ripple throughout the development organization. I'm sure
your programmers would be happier if the adds for the
product matched the title bar, the icon, etc.

Even though it's too late to do anything about Xxxxxxxx On-Line,
it isn't too late (or too early) to start nagging about the
next product to come off the line. At every meeting that both
you and marketing attend, pointedly ask if they are sure about
the product name, if they are firm on the product graphics.
Give them a deadline for changes and make sure that it's well
publicized. It wouldn't even hurt to throw in a few comments
about advertising the *right* product.  ;-) Your goal now is
to make them think, "well, we'd better consult with Joyce on
this one or we'll never hear the end of it -- you know how
picky about details she is!"

The word "team" just isn't intuitive to some people (more's
the pity).



-Sue Gallagher
sgallagher -at- expersoft -dot- com