Re: Metrics

Subject: Re: Metrics
From: Shelley Larock <larock -at- TYCHO -dot- ARH -dot- CDC -dot- COM>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 1994 18:13:23 GMT

Indeed!!

The software we're documenting right now is exactly this way. We writers
are being told, "Oh, sure, that's going to be working. No problem,
put it in the manuals. The customer will *absolutely* need this
information." Yeah, right!

I can't wait until someone tells me three months down the road that
I wrote instructions for or defined something that doesn't work
right in the software. One more story to bring back to school to
tell the new tech writing recruits! Luckily we include a
disclaimer telling the user, in a professional sort of way,
exactly what Mike said. Now all we have to do is make sure the
users read it!


> Thing is, documentation must go to press 3 to 4 weeks before the software has
> to go to the disk duplicator. You don't think developers are telling the tech
> writers "Oh, that'll be working by the time the code's frozen. No problem. In
> fact, I know exactly how I'm going to do it....yeah, that's the ticket, I know
> *exactly* how I'm going to do it...."

> If management says "Document it...we *are* shipping the product with that
> feature" - it's not the tech pubs dept's fault that the programmers couldn't
> get it to work.

Shelly
larock -at- tycho -dot- arh -dot- cdc -dot- com


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