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Re: Question: saving or storing comments and info from SMEs
Subject:Re: Question: saving or storing comments and info from SMEs From:Suzette Seveny <sseveny -at- PETVALU -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 9 Jul 1998 10:41:08 -0400
Gayle Hoffman wrote:
<snip>
>Do you save or store hard copy or online review comments and
> info from SMEs? If yes, then how or for how long?
Yes we do (hardcopy so far); I prefer for two years.
>
> We have the typical, difficult and stubborn SMEs, programmers and support
> people, who have been reviewing hard copies of the user manuals and
> we are trying to get them to write their comments down or use
insert
> comments in Word. I have been keeping these because sometimes they
> say we have not done the needed editing. It also makes it possible
> to keep records of who said what. It can also show how much or how
> often changes have been made to the same chapter/modules during the
> documentation cycle.
>
> What do you do if they refuse to write down their comments or use the
> online editing features?
I summarize all comments and circulate to the group. This puts the onus on
the SME/developer to speak up if I have something wrong. If I continue to
have a problem, I would ask each to initial my summary of their commentts.
We also continuously have the problem they
> start making the changes in the documents themselves or MISusing
our
> templates and destroying our layout and style by cutting and
pasting
> from our documents. Their justification is that we don't have time
> to do everything they are demanding at the moment they are
demanding
> it. How would you handle these SME 'crimes'? I am thinking about
> password protecting all our files from now on because they are
> interrupting the overall documentation process and cycle by doing
> this.
I would never send the original, just a copy - but with good version
control software, it should be easy to track changes made, and revive an
earlier version/template.
HTH
Suzette Seveny
Markham, Ontario, Canada
sseveny -at- petvalu -dot- com or suzette -at- yesic -dot- com
