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It's a fairly simple matter of perceived benefit vs cost (in
either time, money or both). In a product development
environment there is a point at which further improvement
does not produce additional sales or profit compared to
moving the resources necessary to make the improvement
over to new development. This true not only for the
documentation, but for the product itself. I have personally
witnessed situations in which companies developed products
of such high quality that almost nobody was willing to pay
the prices necessary to sustain the company. Most profitable
companies, their "world class" marketing hype notwithstanding,
are engaged in a constant reevaluation of their processes and
practices to set their quality levels at "just good enough" right
along with their "just in time" scheduling, and unless you're
prepared to improve the quality of their documents without
any additional expense on their part, you will find this to be
the case whether you are a direct employee or a contractor/
consultant.
As for what to do when you are overpraised and overpaid
for what you consider underachievement? Produce the best
docs you can with the time and resources available. Take a
bow, take the money and periodically point out that much
additional improvement to document quality could be made
if the necessary resources were available.
Gene Kim-Eng
"Anonymous Poster" wrote...
I've racked my brain as to why wouldn't the PTB want
clearer, more effective documentation. Most of the
items that I suggest affect only my workload. I can't
understand this acceptance for something less than the
best, especially in my current position.
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