Re: Icon for documentation department

[JohnMethod -at- aol -dot- com]

Careful, Dave,

This sounds suspiciously like a standard process (re: Galt et al.), when you 
write:

<< one of those [old] fashioned meat grinders where you put the meat in the 
top and it spits out the string bits on the side.

In the top you have all types of equipment [...] a symbol for knowledge (like 
a brain), and maybe a developer [...]

Then have a steady stream of paper coming out of the side and feeding into an 
open book >>

Sorry, couldn't resist combining two postings........8^D.......

I use a meat grinder in my consulting to explain processes. It's a lot like 
an extruder and is a simple vehicle for Deming's 5M story: Machine, Man, 
Manufacturing environment, Material, and Methods. Sorry about the "man" - 
it's his thing, not mine.

One comment (only) on tech writing standards:
They serve to minimize confusion and to make significant content as apparent 
as possible. This can happen only if, to the user, the insignificant details 
of each document are as much like every other document as possible. 
Aesthetics and artistic license can easily detract from the communication. 
P'raps this is a case where "The medium is the message" should not hold true.

Flame shields up.

John G. Boland, president
VisiBit Corporation