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Re: Reviewers who don't review

Subject: Re: Reviewers who don't review
From: "Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>
To: <stevefjong -at- comcast -dot- net>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 1 Aug 2006 12:06:18 -0700

I think the reality in most organizations is that the individual contributor
tech writer is not empowered to do something like this and the tactic
needs to be applied by whoever that writer reports to. Whoever does
it must also emphasize what I said in my previous post, that the
documentation is done but cannot be released because it has not been
*properly reviewed or verified,* so it is not the doc group that is causing
the schedule slip, but the document approvers and testers.

And yes, I probably should have mentioned it, but completion of docs
is a milestone on our development schedules and document reviews and
verification are milestones in our doc process.

Gene Kim-Eng


----- Original Message ----- From: <stevefjong -at- comcast -dot- net>

I also see an issue with the solution Gene offered (threaten to hold up the
release until the documentation is reviewed). This is a big stick, but is it a
real one? I've been in plenty of situations where the doc manager (sometimes
me) says, "We will never cause a schedule slip." That is in fact the
mantra of most tech doc group. I've been to plenty of status meetings
where--to mix my metaphor--every other group pulls that particular club out of
their bag, but never Documentation. Perhaps the writer who's too nice to rat out
his reviewer becomes the manager who's too accommodating to threaten to hold up
the release. But it's a big stick, isn't it? So, shouldn't we be using it?


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References:
Re: Reviewers who don't review: From: stevefjong

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