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Subject:Tech writing data storage pet peeve From:Beth Kane <Kane -at- VENTANA -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 30 Mar 1999 17:41:30 -0700
I am really irritated with tech writers who refuse to store/work with their
docs on the server everyone is supposed to be using. I've worked with two
people like this, at two different companies.
For some reason they don't feel right unless they're working with the docs
residing on their hard drives. When questioned they'll tell you they back it
up to floppy (!) or some other drive. Why won't they use the server they're
supposed to use? It gets backed up every night. There are no speed concerns
-- our server is just as fast as our local machines.
My process: I work off the server, and at the end of each day, I save a copy
of my docs folder to my hard drive. I do this not only in case the
auto-backup process fails (paranoid), but also in case the network is down
the next day and I want to make sure I can keep working. So my hard drive is
the backup-backup, but never the original working directory. I figure the IS
guys have lots of recovery processes in place for the server, too, since it
holds so much important data for lots of people in the company.
What can I do to convince them to use the server we're supposed to use? I'm
not the boss, and my boss so far has not lain (laid?) down the law.
<end rant>
