Re: Reluctant SMEs (Was Re: Education and Productivity)

[Nancy McDonald <nmcdonald -at- OTECH -dot- COM>]

I have a good gimic for my comments in the midst of drafts, too.
 Since I email my work to my sme 70 miles away, I make comments in red
in midst of the doc, eg. step 1.. blah... comment IN BOLD RED...
Step 2. back to black in real doc work..

I use Word, and I created 2 toolbar buttons (from tools/customize), one
for red font called :-( (only the face side up--just used some icon that
was available), another for black font, called "auto" so I can quickly
switch back and forth from my comments/questions to the real stuff.

Nancy McDonald,
nmcdonald -at- otech -dot- com

Barb Philbrick wrote:
>
> >The problem with _making stuff up_ is that it could wind up in the
> >final document.  <snip>  When I have to make a guess as to how
> >something works, I flag that section of the draft with
> >revision bars or a comment in large, bold print.=20
>
> Tom has a great comment. I use footnotes with a comment like, "Make
> sure this is correct," or even, "I made this up. Is it even remotely
> correct?"
>
> In general, I've found that footnotes work better than any other form
> of markup. My SMEs have consistently answered more of my questions
> when I put them in footnotes than when I bold, italicize, highlight,
> or otherwise mark up the text. I'm not sure why, but if it works, I
> stick with it.
>
> In my Frame projects, I make the footnotes conditional, so I can turn
> off conditional text and be confident that I haven't included anything
> dumb in the final. This has also worked nicely for a low-volume manual
> that I typically can't revise as well as I'd like to. I add footnote
> comments on sections that I know are problematic but don't have the $$
> or time to change. Next time around, I might be able to pick up the
> changes. (It's also stress-relief - I hate putting out a faulty
> product, but I'm not getting paid to make it perfect. The fact that I
> won't lose a comment and might get it fixed down the line helps
> massage that little raw spot that sends out guilt pangs.)
>
> Barb
> Barbara Philbrick, Caslon Services Inc.
>
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