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In the December 28 Techwr-L Digest, Eric Bolton asked whether any other
technical publications departments still have writing and layout in
separate departments.
The short answer is, "Not here, but sometimes I wish we did." By the time
I've worked on a set of deliverables for 3 months, I really need a fresh
set of eyes to help with the final quality checks and "production" tasks.
I call them production tasks because that's what they were called 25+ years
ago when I started in this field. At that time we had a writing department,
an editing department, and a production department. When word processing
equipment was introduced, the production department was renamed desktop
publishing. And for a while, I managed a production department.
It's from that management experience that I offer this advice: Consider
treating your layout people the way we so often talk about treating SMEs.
That is, treat them as equals when you solicit their help, bring them
treats, praise them when they return perfect (or even nearly-perfect) work,
thank them for their work even when it's less-than-perfect. In short,
become their favorite customer. I can almost guarantee that within a few
months, you will see an improvement in the quality of work you receive from
the layout group.
Best of luck,
Beverly
(satisfied owner of a Marvin window)
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