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Subject:Re: ISO 9000: Role of the TW From:Anthony Markatos <tonymar -at- HOTMAIL -dot- COM> Date:Sat, 20 Jun 1998 08:20:39 PDT
Eve Griblin asks:
I am a Technical Writer involved in an ISO 9000 documentation compliance
strategy. I am interested to find out the scope of responsibility other
TWs have had in this type of project.
Has anyone had to lead this kind of project on their own? What
strategies did you employ?
What do you do when you don't have a manager to ensure team members have
time to contribute to the process?
Tony Markatos responds:
Eve, a couple of years ago I had a ISO 9000 consulting assignment at a
65 person manufacturing and distribution company. My task was to create
a set of verified data flow diagrams (flow-chart-like diagrams showing
all the tasks performed and their interrelationships). These
interrelationships were flows of data or material between tasks.
Nailing down the interrelationships was the key to ISO 9000
implementation. The client knew that once they had such, they could
take the individual tasks off of the diagrams and assign the detailed
documentation of each task to individuals familiar with the specifics.
The company knew that they had the people willing and able to take on
such assignments. What they did not have was someone who could
understand how all the tasks tied together.
In doing my piece, what I found was that people within the organization
(except for a couple of really entrenched political animals) were more
than willing to respond to specific closed-ended questions about how
things were done - questions like "When you get the sales order, what
decisions do you make from the order quantity section?". Asking
open-ended questions like "What data do you need to do to do your job?"
was much more difficult.
Funny thing, most people had plenty of time to answer closed-ended
questions - I could ask a ton of such. But, ask too many open-ended
questions and presto magic - an important meeting had to be attended (I
thing this addresses the root of the "time" issues you are hearing from
others).
The main thing that I had to do was to maintain a very high level of
initiative; I had to go through multiple iterations of each diagram.
Tony Markatos
"The truth will set you free - but first you must be miserable"
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