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Subject:Re: Working remotely from development team -Reply From:Colleen Adams <colleen_adams -at- MEDISPAN -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 21 Oct 1998 18:06:25 -0500
Ditto Guru on all his comments!
We have development teams in San Francisco, Portland, St. Louis, &
Indianapolis. I manage writers in these locations; however, I've not
hesitated to assign a different writer to a project that was being
developed in a different location (my assignments to projects have been
based on the individual writer's level of expertise with a particular
technology... UI, COM, database, etc.-- *not* necessarily where the writer
is located with respect to development).
It definitely has its pros and cons, but *one* benefit that Guru did not
mention, that we've experienced, is that when a trip is planned (and
believe me, you *must* plan for onsite visits), it forces your SMEs to get
their s$ -at- * together! If they know a writer is making a special trip to their
location (for a short period of time) to discuss the documentation and
meetings are already scheduled, they are more apt to be prepared.
As far as getting the software, we *require* they send us the final,
frozen copy of product (as they know it at that time--we all know the real
truth on this one...;) before we can finish documenting... we make this a
standard! Relying on our SMEs to verify accuracy has not always
worked for us. If another version of the product is cut prior to release,
we just push out our dates (as much as we can) accordingly to ensure
we have enough time to get the doc done... right.
Hope that helps. Feel free to contact me off-line if you have further
questions.
Good luck!
___________________
Colleen Adams
External Documentation Manager
First DataBank, Inc.
Indianapolis, IN
colleen_adams -at- firstdatabank -dot- com
>>> Guru <guru -at- BOM5 -dot- VSNL -dot- NET -dot- IN> 10/21/98 03:36am >>>
Hello Bevan,
I work in Bombay (India) for a company in USA and I can imagine your
situation.
One of the major problems that I have faced in remote documentation is
that
the actual application is not available to me. I make do with the screens,
by seeing it in Visual Basic (so I have had to use a new software). A
solution for this could be to work temporarily where the application is
available. Make notes and then go back and do the documentation. I did
work
on-site for a few months and now I am carrying out the work off-site.
There is a need for a good documentation leader at the development site
to
do the coordination. In lone writer type of situation the documenation
efforts can become very messy otherwise.
Review are always a problem in any situation. It becomes worse in
remote
documentation situation. You have to endlessly wait for review
comments
(No, this is not based on my current assignment. Just a general
comment.)
In my first such assignment, reviews would come after months and I
would
sleep on the job (and wrote a popular column called DocuMentor -- which
made
me quite famous.)
Internet connectivity has improved tremendously in India. Thanks to good
Internet connectivity and Net Meetings -- I am always in touch with the
rest
of the team at remote locations. All of us follow good email practices and
techniques. All of us are Internet savvy. So working remotely is
considerably easy thanks to this approach to Internet. The company
follows a
practice of Virtual Office -- you can work at the Office, home, etc. So
everyone is comfortable working remotely.
Incidentally, I did visit the development team and others and struck a
rapport with them. Likewise, I did get a chance to meet "locals" and
understand them and their needs. Knowing the readers/users is important
and
I appreciate the efforts of my company to have borne so much of
expense to
help me understand the audience.
Software incompatibilities could be an issue (e.g. if the two locations
have
two different versions of Microsoft Project!). However, we all use the
same
software so this is not a problem. Our company uses the "best of the
breed"
technologies. This is a great help in remote work.
I think it is not a common practice at all for TWrs to be separated from the
development team. I think only during implementation or maintenance --
the
technical writer may be needed on location.
If you have any questions, please feel to write to me -- on or off the list.
Hope this has been of some help.
>Is it a common practice in software development for TWs to work from a
>different location to that of the development team?
>
>I am thinking specifically of situations where the TW is located in the
>target market, and the development team is located in another country.
>
>For those of you who have done it, can you tell us something about how
the
>experience was? What problems did you have that you don't have
when in the
>same location as development? Were there any special techniques you
used?
From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=
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