Re: Question: saving or storing comments and info from SMEs

[Robert Plamondon <robert -at- PLAMONDON -dot- COM>]

Here's what we did:

1. Documents belonged to us.  The SMEs had no ownership.  They could bitch
and moan and complain and campaign and accuse us of malfeasance, but they
were OUR documents and WE made the decisions.  Usually they were pretty
happy with us, but sometimes we'd get someone who was burned out on his own
job who wanted to do our job for us.  The thing to do with these guys is to
get them to agree to write a document.  Sign them up for the schedule they
suggest, make it an official part of the plan, and track progress in your
reports. The SME will suddenly vanish forever.

2. We returned review copies to the reviewer, who could store them forever
or throw them away as they liked. This made it easier for them to see what
we'd done with their input and helped empty out our cubicles.

3. We used signoff sheets solely for our own purposes.  If a reviewer didn't
review the document, this was a stick we could use to beat him and his
manager with, but the documents belonged to us, and we were perfectly
willing to ship over the dead body of a reviewer if we had to.  We did not
allow J. Random Reviewer to hold our documents hostage.  (If you are in a
company where they can, I recommend you post a list of The Rules and
distribute it to the interested parties, including the rules "Any reviewer
outranks any member of Tech Pubs in all matters, and is the final authority
on content, style, the English language, structure, budget, and corporate
standards" and, "Any reviewer can hold a document hostage for as long as he
likes.  Each reviewer is the final authority on the project schedule."

        -- Robert