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Subject:Quality/validation From:Alexander Von_obert <avobert -at- TWH -dot- MSN -dot- SUB -dot- ORG> Date:Sat, 27 Jan 1996 14:42:00 +0100
Hello,
* Antwort auf eine Nachricht von geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca an All am 23.01.96
gg> Here's number two in my series of anonymous postings.
gg> We are trying to get a formalized proofing/editing/QA-ing
gg> process off the ground for my group of technical and
gg> marketing writers.
Quality control and technical writing are quite different worlds, mostly
because the quality people cannot measure anything. Even testing is quite
complicated sometimes or even impossible, e.g. in the machinery industry:
The machine is erected once and then shipped to the customer. There has never
been a machine exactly like this one before and there will never be one again.
As a technical writer you run around the machine on those two days it is
possible
possible
How can anyone validate your work afterwards?
I see two possibilities to automate quality control:
- Set up a set of guidelines that fully describe who is to do what and
how. Write checklists at least for the standard procedures. You will
avoid many common problems and the QA people could use them, too.
- (Science fiction for most of us:) Get a SGML system. Get DTDs for
your different documents. This way the computer can check many things.
E.g. if you mark up any parts number as such, the computer can check
them.
Greetings from Germany,
Alexander
--
|Fidonet: Alexander Von_obert 2:2490/1719
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