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Subject:Re: End User Manual and SharePoint Wiki From:John Hedtke <john -at- hedtke -dot- com> To:"Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>, "Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:21:12 -0800
Being in exactly the same position as the esteemed Mr. Barrows at the
moment, I concur.
Our system was developed by my grandboss and none of us in the
department will gain anything by pointing out that he's got a
shockingly ugly baby. Truth never was much of a defense when you're
telling your grandboss he's FOS, no matter how politely you phrase
that to him.
Yours truly,
John Hedtke
Author/Consultant/Contract Writer
www.hedtke.com <-- website
541-685-5000 (office landline)
541-554-2189 (cell)
john -at- hedtke -dot- com (primary email)
johnhedtke -at- aol -dot- com (secondary email)
At 08:11 AM 12/10/2007, Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
>My experience in these matters has been that upper
>management that makes process decisions without
>asking for input from the people actually doing the
>work is usually convinced that they know these
>things better and will turn a deaf ear toward any
>arguement offered on these grounds. The approach
>that has the best chance of being successful is to
>determine the maximum level of disaster possible
>if a user posts incorrect information to the wiki
>and another user follows it 30 seconds later, then
>secure the support of someone in the upper
>management level whose ox will be gored by
>said disaster. If you can't come up with a suitable
>disaster, then perhaps there's nothing to be lost by
>posting the "known good" document that you have
>prepared and giving the wiki a try. Just be sure
>to select a platform for it that doesn't require a
>lot of hands-on work by the doc team.
>
>Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
>(unless they indicate otherwise
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Dan Goldstein" <DGoldstein -at- riverainmedical -dot- com>
>
> > My only suggestion is to demonstrate the following on a single,
> > double-spaced page:
> >
> > * How much more the project would cost (in dollars) if the company
> > adopts this system
> > * How much the project would be delayed (in days) if the company adopts
> > this system
> >
> > I'm not disparaging the qualitative issues that you raised (end-users
> > have no benchmark to measure the documentation, edits can't be
> > effectively validated and incorporated, etc.). However, those who
> > support the wiki also have arguments on their side. Your ability to
> > quantify the potential "waste" might give you an edge.
>
>^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
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