Updating Hard Copies of Existing Manuals

["Kelly E. Halbritter [C]" <halbrttr -at- CIG -dot- MOT -dot- COM>]

In response to a proposal to update manuals using pages numbered 15a,
15b, 15c, 15d, etc., Bill DuBay commented:

"I refuse to do updates like that. It is the biggest mess, waste of
time, and customers hate it. Keep a track of who gets what and send them
the whole new manual. Period."

I would like to clarify that our customers specifically request updates
as opposed to entire manual reprints. They put copious, hand-written
notes in their manuals and do not like copying they over into a new
manual set every three months. The cellular equipment that we document
is flexible and customers adapt it to their specific sites, so
hand-written notes are inevitable. We are producing updates for the
convenience of our customers, not to cut corners in labor or costs for
our company.

Even if this revision plan wasn't requested by our customers, I do not
have the luxury of refusing direct orders from my boss. The reality for
most of us is that we make a case for the strategy that we think is
best. If we are then ordered to implement a strategy contrary to our
best judgement, we can either quit or design the plan so that it
produces as few headaches as possible. "Updates vs. Revisions" is not
the hill that I want to die on!

----
Kelly Halbritter
Senior Technical Writer
halbrttr -at- cig -dot- mot -dot- com
Kelly Halbritter

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