Re: document review process

[Chris Hamilton <chamilton -at- GR -dot- COM>]

Huntley Eshenroder wrote:
> We need to implement a document review process for manuals, data sheets,
> etc. Short of hiring another person (permanent or freelance), does anyone
> have any suggestions or ideas for doing this?

A lot of it depends on the poltical climate in your company. If you put
something together, will management back it, or go around it the first
time it's expedient to do so? The review process can be different for
each situation and should take the office political environment into
account. You probably want to have something to guard against an endless
review cycle, too. Finally, you probably want to get buy-off from
everyone concerned. In fact, you might solicit their opinions up front.
If they're part of the creation, they're more likely to back the
process.

In my last job, we had an information gathering stage which wasn't part
of the official process. Toward the end of that process, we put the
document to a group of technical experts, then brought it back to them
for more reviews as necessary. After that was done, it went to a review
board to make sure the technical team was right (it usually was) and to
make sure it fit the political environment. On occassion, they'd send it
back to the technical group. It sounds a little bureaucratic, I suppose,
but it worked pretty well.

Chris Hamilton
--
Chris Hamilton, Technical Writer
Greenbrier and Russel
chamilton -at- gr -dot- com
847.330.4146

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