Re: Documenting A Moving Target

[Eric -dot- Ray -at- WCOM -dot- COM]

On Tue, 20 Feb 1996 16:16:51 EDT  Karen Gwynn/Datatel wrote:

>Problem: I am trying to document a product that is still being
>developed, not just tweaked. By this I mean, something that I documented
>on January 31, now works differently.
...
>HELP! What do other people do? Do other software companies build in time
>Any advice (or job offers) is appreciated!!

Yup! In addition to the other suggestions offered (build in two
weeks lag for you, don't try to keep up on an ongoing basis, and
implement change control procedures), get yourself wired into the
loop. You'll find that there are people in your organization who,
for whatever reason, tend to just KNOW what's changing when and
how critical that will be. They will also be able to tell you
when the series of changes in a specific set of screens ceases,
so you'll be able to start into them again. How to find these people?
Good question. It depends on your organization. Just start talking
to people about the project you're on and wait for them to start
offering information.

You'll never get past the moving target problem, but you need to put
the responsibility for keeping you adequately informed on your
developers (or their management, if necessary).

Eric


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Eric J. Ray               | Eric -dot- Ray -at- wcom -dot- com
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