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Subject:Re: Is it just me? S/W doc question From:Chris Hamilton <chamilton -at- GR -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 29 May 1997 09:28:20 -0500
Melissa Hunter-Kilmer wrote:
>
> When you're documenting an application, and it changes, is there
> a procedure in place to notify all concerned? Or do you just
> find out after you've written the chapter, and then you have to
> rewrite it?
Two things -- One, I schmooze the hell out of the developers. Some of it
looks like screwing around (and it is), but it's there to get in good
with them. More on that after Melissa's next paragraph.Two, we have a
change tracking system called tracker that all requested changes must be
recorded in. I check that periodically.
>
> I know I should be more proactive and involved with the
> developers, but it's hard both to find the time and to build
> relationships that their managers frown on. It is one of my
> ongoing, unwritten tasks to help these managers understand the
> importance of good doc -- that is, they don't get it, so they
> deliberately keep tech writers out of the loop so that we won't
> take too much time with the developers.
I know there are those who might call it whining, but if you have a
manager, that education is part of that person's job, too. To me it's
_VITAL_ to have a relationship with the developers. It helps them, too.
I've pointed out (on a few occassions) some really subtle things they
would have had a hard time finding. It's not because I'm brilliant or
anything. It's because I have a distance they don't. I've never had
someone tell me point blank or even indirectly not to bother the
developers. I guess I've been really lucky this way. I've attached some
of that luck to this message, so Melissa can have it, too.
--
Chris Hamilton, Technical Writer
Greenbrier & Russel
847.330.4146
chamilton -at- gr -dot- com
Gianluca Pagliuca! (SportsCenter term)
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