A bit of clearing up on final reviews

["Sierra Godfrey" <kittenbreath -at- hotbot -dot- com>]

I've tried to write this question several times, so that it's clear.

You may remember my earlier posts about my troubles with a misbehaving SME in the review process. Thanks to all your replies, I was able to see that a very firm review plan was needed, and that the one I had followed had not been good enough. 

So the next time I send a manual for review, I'll be sticking to sign-offs and freeze dates. The formula I've developed, based on the previous formula, is this: two weeks (adjusted per size of project) for final reviews. Freeze date on last day of review. One week (adjusted per size of project) to incorporate changes and finalize document for printing.

But I keep sticking on what to do when the two engineers here say, like they did last time, that they want to see the pre-print version themselves to ensure it's okay? I'm the only writer here so having someone else check the final final version is helpful--but if it's these two, then they feel free to start making all sorts of little changes again, as if it were in review. This is what happened last time, and I can't accept that again. 

Any suggestions on how to handle them seeing print-ready copy? If the answer is to not let them see it, who should? Should everyone just trust me? Is it right to trust one person with the absolute final version? Is there a way around all this, by passing my obviosuly not feeling confident about being the only person? (I know myself--I don't catch every probelm).

Thans for you help.


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