Re: departing from a template

Subject: Re: departing from a template
From: Martha J Davidson <editrix -at- nemasys -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2002 15:57:51 -0700


At 01:47 PM 4/16/2002 -0600, Ellen Vanrenen wrote:

We have a style guide and a template. Our manager, who is the manager of Customer Service and Support, becomes unhappy when we depart from the template. I created the template. It is mostly for end user documentation, and I always envisioned it as the "core"
...
Is it usual to consider a template the only way to create documents of the same type, allowing the documentor no freedom depending on the individual document?

I think it depends on what you mean by "template" here. If you are
referring to the collection of acceptable formats (page layouts; paragraph
and character styles; table formats; etc.), then I agree with your
manager. If you discover that the universe of available formats does not
cover all of the circumstances you encounter, then maybe it's time to
extend the template.

If, however, you mean a standard framework or outline that you use
to address the topics you are documenting, then I agree with you.
It's always helpful to start with a basic structure that covers the
main topics you are likely to cover as you document different aspects
of a system, but no structure can accommodate all of the topics
you are likely to need to address. If this is the case, then your
manager's perspective sounds limited to me. If, as you say, your
template forms the "core" of what a document needs, then I would
consider it a starting point, not an absolute format for any and all
documents.

martha


--
Martha Jane {Kolman | Davidson}
Dances With Words
mailto:editrix -at- nemasys -dot- com

"We must become the change we want to see in the world."
--Gandhi


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