Re: What do you call them?

[Fabien Vais <phantoms -at- ACCENT -dot- NET>]

I agree with Kevin's dilemna. I have often had the same kind of problem,
both working on a contract basis and full-time. It used to anger me that
people were taking a DRAFT copy that I handed in, and using it as a FINAL
copy. I too started to print DRAFT COPY on the cover, and even in the
footers, etc. One day, I I got so mad that I even overprinted DRAFT in very
light grey diagonally across every single page of a manual. Till the day I
was told to remove everything. They said "they knew it was a draft, that I
didn't have to worry about anything, etc." So I stopped. What the hell, if
they want it that badly, let them have it!

But the thought has remained in my mind. Today, I usually tell (just
verbally or by e-mail) my clients VERY CLEARLY that what I'm handing in is a
DRAFT copy, that I haven't had a chance to do a final edit of the text, that
running the spellchecker is never enough, that there are probably still
inconsistencies, and that I don't consider this a FINAL COPY, etc. If after
being told this, they give me back the text for me to "complete" it, great!
If not, too bad for them. I've decided that I won't lose sleep over it anymore.

Curious to know what others have to say about this situation.

Fabien Vais
phantoms -at- accent -dot- net

At 08:29 AM 8/5/97 MST, Kevin wrote:
>     Another question.  I am in a weird situation where I work, as a
>     subcontractor at Motorola's IRIDIUM project.  The basic philosophy of
>     documentation since I started here is "Just get the documents out
>     there for people to look at."
>
>     I hate this philosophy because it does not lend itself to getting the
>     document properly reviewed by the SME, other people who use it,
>     managers, what have you.  So, documents get "released" to people that
>     are not very good, for whatever the reason.  There was no process of
>     how to get signatures, approvals, reviews, what have you.
>
>     Therefore, when I started, I started to put "DRAFT COPY" on the
>     document's cover page and footers.  I made it clear that I was not
>     happy the documents were not being reviewed and signed off (which is
>     weird, because everyone here sees the need for documentation, I guess
>     just not good documentation), and until that happened, the documents
>     would remain a DRAFT COPY.
>
>     Well, yesterday, the question came up in a staff meeting from the
>     group manager why the documents are called DRAFT.  Which got me
>     thinking.  Perhaps the words DRAFT COPY were not appropriate in this
>     situation because many of the documents are completed, just not
>     inspected.  I have been tossing around terms in my mind like:
>
>     1. unapproved
>     2. prerelease
>
>     You get the idea.  I was wondering what my peers call documents that
>     have been "released" but not officially approved.
>
>     Please rely off-line and if there is sufficient desire, I will post a
>     summary.  Thanks in advance

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