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Subject:Re: SME Instranigence From:Robert Plamondon <robert -at- PLAMONDON -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 26 Feb 1997 07:57:42 PST
>When you have tried every trick in the book, but still cannot get the
>information you need, what do you do?
I would put the word "DRAFT" on every page, and have a preface that
says, "This document is presented in draft form. It has not received a
thorough technical review."
That's it, you're done.
You see, you are not a one-stop doc shop -- you are part of a documentation
PROCESS, which necesarily has other players. (This is the cricial point
at which I differ with the "no typos in resumes" crowd. Resumes are
necessarily produced without several crucial production steps, and must
thus be considered to be drafts. Documentation is a process -- exhorting
writers to be perfect when critical steps are absent is an example of
bad management at its most blatant. But I digress.) The document cannot be
finished without a technical review. If a technical review is not
forthcoming, you have no choice but to (a) not publish the document, or
(b) publish the document but make its unfinished status clear to the
reader.
-- Robert
--
Robert Plamondon, High-Tech Technical Writing, Inc.
36475 Norton Creek Road * Blodgett * Oregon * 97326
robert -at- plamondon -dot- com * (541) 453-5841 * Fax: (541) 453-4139 http://www.pioneer.net/~robertp
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