Re: Who dreams up these things?

[Mike Stockman <stockman -at- jagunet -dot- com>]

On 09/28/1999 3:21 PM, Anthony Markatos (tonymar -at- hotmail -dot- com) wrote:

> <snip> It is to create clear, concise, end-user-focused 
>documentation.
>
>Creating such documentation is difficult.  It is very difficult (if not 
>impossible) when the design staff does not follow a disciplined process.  

Not really true, although "disciplined process" is open to all kinds of 
interpretation. It is possible for most individuals among us to create 
clear, concise, end-user-focused documentation without any formalized 
process, by dint of experience, skill, determination, and lots o' hard 
work. I've even done it once or twice.

My experience is that the larger a doc. organization is, the more people 
call for formalized processes, probably because a single writer can keep 
the process in her head and modify it on the fly without confusing anyone 
else, while a team has to communicate these things among its members.

The way I've always seen it, formalized processes are seldom absolutely 
necessary for writers to produce quality work. Managers really like to 
formalize processes to make their jobs easier, and to encourage 
consistency.

----->Mike

P.S. Did the previous poster really XXXXX out the word "frickin'", as if 
it were a naughty word? Heck, we could start a whole discussion off-list 
about whether a substitute for a dirty word is, in fact, a dirty word in 
and of itself, gosh darn it.

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