Re: Who Decides?

[Carma C Allen <ccallen -at- BECKMAN -dot- COM>]

In our company (in our division of the company, that is) the writer, who is
a member of the development team, prepares a Publications Plan during the
assessment phase of the project. This Plan, which (loosely) follows one
that Joanne Hackos has as a model in her book about managing the
publication process, details what documents will be prepared and when. This
is based on the writer's (and the rest of the Pubs Group's) prior
experience, the preliminary marketing product specs (product complexity,
user level, etc), the proposed schedule, available resources, and various
other factors. It includes expected review cycles and final publication
dates, and outlines the affect (effect? impact?) that product schedule
slippage, etc., will have on publication schedules. The Publications Plan
is signed off by all members of the development team
—all have input,
Marketing not really any more than Research & Applications or Field Service
(Engineering and Manufacturing are usually not very concerned—whatever we
say is okay with them, since they seldom deal directly with customers).
Team members usually sign off without any hassle because they know that
we've been doing this for a long time and mostly know what works.

It works for us.

Carma
ccallen -at- beckman -dot- com