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Subject:Doco first by a field, Software second From:"Steve Hudson" <steve -at- wright -dot- com -dot- au> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 3 Aug 2001 19:49:00 +1000
SM> There is a school of thought that you start off by defining the
SM> requirements, then you write the manual for the software that meets
those
SM> requirements. Then the developer writes the software to match the
manual...
SM>
SM> Anybody here do that? 8-)
Already done son. The softies here are learning right now the hard way who
really holds the dev power :-) I have the signed off functional spec I
wrote, and its quite detailed. My team leader, the gfx designer, has been
made product manager for this product so...
<sfx: evil laughter with massive reverb>
We designed and wrote the minimum user interface for V1.0. The help took a
day for me to write, and hdk does all the webbery for me. The application
programming takes way way longer. I spent about a fortnight working with
Mark, the lead, designing the GUI part of the UI, and then helped him design
the icon set.
Unfortunately, the latest test build is not nearly to spec...
So, we have changes being made, and I'll have to drift the doco a bit.
Sweet. I'll still be ready way way before them. Then, as this func spec is
the last, I can send my materials off for prepping for localisation, but as
its very small, the entire additional 8 languages should only take a week or
so. Thus I'll be able to deliver multiple languages, and localised program
file bits to match it, all at the same time as the devs get their last build
together.
As its all sourced in a word document, its very portable and easy for me to
work with.
Steve Hudson
Principal Technical Writer
Wright Technologies (Aus)
steve -at- www -dot- wright -dot- com -dot- au
(612) 9518-1822
The best way to predict the future... is to create it!
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