Re: Do you do QA?

[Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET>]

At 10:37 AM 7/30/96 -0500, you wrote:
>My coworker and I were recently informed that we were expected to perform QA
>functions in addition to our writing responsibilities, and that QA engineers
>would also be responsible for writing end-user documentation. In our combined
>25+ years of experience, we have never been asked to do such a thing. We do not
>have the training to do real QA testing.

>Certainly we do usability testing as part of our job functions. We evaluate the
>design of a product to ensure that it doesn't hinder the user rather than help
>him do his job. But it seems odd to label us "QA test engineers/technical
>writers" when we also design and create a product that needs to be QA tested.

>I'd like the opinions of other writers. Am I being unreasonable in resisting
>this arrangement?

>Thanks!

>Karen

As stated, this is  bizarre enough to make me want more information. I've
never known an organization to abruptly anoint tech writers as QA engineers.
Is there some other reason that we just don't know yet...are the writers
expected to document QA procedures, for example?

Tim Altom
Vice President, Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 (voice) 317.899.5987 (fax)
FrameMaker support  ForeHelp support

Makers of DuoFrame, giving you online help and paper
documentation from a single parent FrameMaker document.

http://www.simplywritten.com/simply

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