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>>One of the most stubborn problems technical writers encounter is
obtaining
an adequate technical review of their drafts from Subject Matter Experts
(SMEs), engineers, programmers, and other lifeforms.
YES, YES, YES. This has been my problem as well. What we do is tell the
SMEs that they need to review the document first, and then we will have a
meeting. At the meeting, we go over their proposed changes and no one
leaves the room until we ALL understand the changes.
We had one person tell us he did not have time to do the required changes.
We simply told him that since his name was on the document as the original
author, if there is a problem, he will be the one they will look for. This
works some times.
Fortunately, we have good support from management, and if a product is held
up because of a document is not ready, it is the SMEs that get into
trouble.