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It's often difficult to get people to actually read the document you are
asking them to review. You might have insisted on working with the product
and interviewing the source people. This is the kind of information that
comes out in conversations and exercising the product. There are all sorts
of reviewers, and after some experience with a particular group, you come
to find out who your best reviewers are.
Stand over him? I have done that. But my first choice is to find a better
reviewer.
A review method that sometimes works is to hold a meeting with all
reviewers and turn the pages one at a time. This often spurs communication
among the reviewers, with lots of info coming out in the conversation.
Liz
"Siliconwriter"
<siliconwriter -at- co
mcast.net> To
Sent by: "TECHWR-L List"
techwr-l-bounces+ <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
liz_vela=bcbstx.c cc
om -at- lists -dot- techwr-l
.com Subject
Reviewers who don't review
07/31/2006 04:03
PM
A couple of weeks ago I created a quick start guide for our users,
sent it around for review, got signatures, and sent it through our
Document Control process, which garnered more reviews and more
signatures. It got packed with the product and sent to a user. Next
thing I know, I'm getting feedback from the field reps that the
default user ID and password are incorrect. I had no access to this
software while writing the guide, and relied on our field reps to
give me the information, then later to review it. Nobody mentioned
that the user ID and password had been changed. When I mentioned (a
bit testily, I confess) in email that the reviewers should have
caught this, I was told by the head of tech support (my main
reviewer) that he never looks at the documents he's sent to review,
and that I should walk them over to him and stand over him to get
them actually reviewed.
What am I, his mother?
Any suggestions as to a response? I am holding onto my temper with
both hands, as the field reps are now blaming me for this screw-up.
Am I responsible? What can I do to ensure that this does not happen
in future? I should point out that Tech Support Guy is frequently off
site and when he is here, is virtually always on the phone. If I
stood over him to get a review, I'd have to move into his cubicle.
Sarah
disgusted
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