Myths and Facts From SSI

[Mike Collier - SSG <MikeCol -at- SBSERVICES -dot- COM>]

This is a long post but if SSI is using the following "Myths and Facts"
to sell documentation solutions to other businesses, I think they're
worth discussing on the list.

Michael Collier
mikecol -at- sbservices -dot- com
SOFTBANK Services Group
Buffalo, NY
http://www.sbservices.com
mailto:MikeCol -at- sbservices -dot- com


>From http://www.radiotower.com/ssi-can/facts.html
>
>
>Facts:
>
>        1.The general cost for authoring a page of documentation is:
>
>                Administrative policy: $ 150 - 250
>                Operational procedure: $ 250 - 350
>                Technical reference: $ 400 - 900
Boy, are we underpaid.
>
>        2.More than 80% of all manuals are seldom opened more than twice;
>XEROX Corporation, 1986
>
>        3.A review of 42 textbooks on the subject of "technical writing",
>from 1949 to 1990 showed remarkable
>           similarity of content; the only real changes applied to page
>composition software as an authoring tool.
>
>        4.4 trillion pages of documentation costing about $75 Billion are
>produced each year in North America; this is a
>           stack of paper about 320 miles high.
>
>        5.Time is money to you: What is it really costing to have you and
>your staff work on documentation and manuals
>           without a complete plan?
>
>                20 minutes a day spent searching for information equals two
>weeks' full time employment over a work
>                year; so there is good reason to make most effective use of
>skills and tools for any job.
>
>                Typically, payroll may account for more than 50% of all
>costs; every $100.00 of gross salary costs an
>                employer another $35.00 for benefits and administrative
>processing, hiring and training are extra costs.
>
>        6.There is hidden difficulty
>
>           Everyone in government and industry is confident they can prepare
>a procedure manual on their work activities,
>           however, few can produce one that people can easily use as a
>business tool, fewer still can undertake to revise
>           it regularly, and almost nobody can report precisely how long it
>took and how much it cost.
>
>        7.Outdated Process, tools, and procedures.
>
>           The PROCESS to produce page-replacement manuals is unchanged since
>World War II; computers have done
>           little to improve the functionality of manuals or to reduce their
>costs - manuals are extremely complicated
>           documents and are dreaded as a computer application by most
>word-processing and desk-top printing
>           operators.
>
>        8.It is a mandatory, repetitive task
>
>           Industry and government MUST provide accurate policy and procedure
>on a regular and timely basis to all
>           employees for matters of safety in the workplace, public
>liability, environmental hazards, and legislative
>           compliance; universally, manuals are vital tools for
>administrative and operational productivity.
>
>        9.Unique skills needed
>
>           Administrators, technicians, and professionals receive little or
>no training on how to prepare, produce, and
>           revise page-replacement manuals; typically, they were not hired to
>do that job and dislike or have little time for
>           the tedious trade and technical activities the task involves, and
>in fact, producing manuals is a "part-time" task
>           that requires "full-time" dedication and unique skills.
>
>       10.Existing Tools Are Ineffective
>
>           The transfer of knowledge from those who have to those who need it
>remains one of the greatest challenges to
>           government and industry in today's world; existing tools
>(software) are unable to provide cost-effective and
>           consistent results independent of the people using them.
>
>       11.Perpetual, Hidden Expenses
>
>           Manuals often require many months of preparation, but when finally
>released, their information is usually already
>           out of date, then, by the time they have been revised as few as 4
>times, the cost of updating starts to exceed the
>           original preparation and production costs.
>
>       12.Extreme Need, Harsh Reality
>
>           99% of the time, people urgently need to find only 1% of the
>information contained in a manual; in 1986, THE
>           XEROX CORPORATION discovered that 80% of the manuals produced in
>business are seldom opened
>           more than twice.

And your solutions do what to change this?
>
>       13.Lost Investment
>
>           Education is not the same as training: training refers to
>knowledge learned from policies, procedures, and
>           technical reference that CONSTANTLY CHANGE; New employees arrive
>with their education, but leave
>           with your training - Work experience that is not captured,
>published, and shared is "lost" investment.
>
>      Clarifying a few Myths
>
>        1."Desktop publishing" is an oxymoron, as in "jumbo shrimp";
>publishing involves more than simple page
>           composition and involves authoring, preparation, production,
>distribution, implementation, budgeting, and
>           scheduling.
>
>        2.A page composition program is not a system which processes
>information by adding value to it through several
>           to many steps.
>
>        3.A technique for coding data for page markup is not necessarily a
>standard; even a standard may be "de facto"
>           or "ad hoc".
>
>        4.SGML and HTML are techniques or "ad hoc" standards that have not
>been confirmed as "de facto" or
>           mandatory standards that must be followed.
So...?
>
>        5."Technical writing" is also an oxymoron; most manuals should not be
>technical but should be simple and easily
>           understood by any reader with only grade 10 competency.
The "technical" part of technical writing refers to the subject matter,
not the writing style.
>
>        6.Computers are cheap and easy to use: companies budget $2K - 6.5K
>annually to support each PC user, but
>           the time that people were spending to help each other work their
>systems cost an extra $6K - $15K per
>           station; Office Productivity Magazine - Jul '93
>
>        7.To be frank, if somebody said "Interleaf" to me 15 months ago, I
>would have said desktop publishing or
>           glorified wordprocessing"; Phil Robling, President - Interleaf,
>Feb '93.
And the point is ...?
>
>      SSI has many more examples of facts, myths, and oxymorons as well as
>cartoons that pertain to management and
>      knowledge transfer systems; if you would like to inquire to what we
>have available, contact us and we will try our best
>      to assist.
>

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