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Yesterday, got a list of suggested changes to a manual from an SME. Since he
went to a great deal of trouble putting together the list as an email
(rather than just scrawling notes on hard copy) I replied point-by-point.
Here is one of my replies:
Done - as with quite a few technical details, I took your word for
it. If yer wrong, yer the villain in my next novel, and it won't be pretty.
As it happened, my SME was dramatically wrong on this particular detail, but
he re-tested the software and got back to me right away. So there won't be a
bad guy named Dave...
Most of the time, I verify technical details by playing with the software
I'm documenting, but in this case I didn't have time.
So I'm wondering if my little joke (I wouldn't take that tone with just
anybody) might have nudged him into re-checking that particular fact.
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