Re: Not allowed to change templates?

[Paula Puffer <papuffer -at- SWBELL -dot- NET>]

>> Gerd Ballenberger wrote:>
>> Our (big) department has a standard set of FrameMaker templates, and we
>are
>> "NOT" allowed to change them. Now we're writing a department style guide,
>> and found e.g. that there is no paragraph tag for a literature list, and
>no
>> xref format for referencing the list items, like [1]. Of course we
created
>> these formats (plus some others), and now we have to defend our decision.
>> How did others handle the need for special-purpose formats in a rigid
>> environment?

Use your style guide and the already existing documentation to show that
these styles are
already in your documentation, but that they just haven't been named in the
template.  Someone is
having you write a style guide for a reason.... use that as part of the
justification.

Andrew wrote:

>We left and got jobs working for technical pubs groups that were not run by
>Nazis.


What does this comment have to do with the question at hand?

Companies have policies for a reason. If it is because the tech pubs group
is such a large department, the not changing the templates more than likely
has something to do with people making and applying their  own styles. This
sort of policy would avoid some people creating a style that no one else
had.

>A few other replies to this suggested forming a review board to determine
if
>the changes are necessary.  Anytime I hear the words "review board" I want
>to hurl.  These groups should just call themselves "lazy, ineffectual,
>hateful, morons who want to control every minutia of work and sap the life
>out of everyone they touch."  I have never met a review board I liked.
They
>are monuments to inefficiency and petty bickering.

That is your opinion, but I, and others, have found review sessions useful.
Especially to make sure that all parts of the group are on the same track.

>I remember once having to endure a TWO HOUR discussion about the value of
>sans-serif fonts.  Those people should have all been melted down and their
>organs fed to strays at the pound.
>
>Seriously, here's my useless advice: make the changes to your templates and
>don't tell anyone.  If you tell them you changed the template -- they'll
>yell at you and you'll spend WAY more time "defending your decision" then
>writing documents (like you should be doing).  If you just do it and don't
>ask, they'll either praise you for your "ingenuity" or yell at you.  The
>latter has the most chance of being successful without the involvement of
>any "review boards".

It sounds like they already have to defend their decision to the powers that
be.

Paula Puffer
papuffer -at- swbell -dot- net

>As always, with love...
>........................................................
>Andrew Plato
>Owner/Principal Consultant
>Anitian Technology Services
>www.anitian.com
>
>
>