Re: what I recently heard

Subject: Re: what I recently heard
From: Tom Murrell <trmurrell -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 08:18:32 -0800 (PST)


--- Sean Hower <hokumhome -at- freehomepage -dot- com> wrote:
>
> i recently heard someone say the following:
>
> "I'd almost rather have it [the content of docs] be consistent and be wrong, than
> to have documents that aren't consistent."
>
> i didn't really know how to respond to this. I was kind of dumbfounded actually.
> What's a good way to respond to such a statement?

I'd say that's a good time for follow-up questions. What constitutes consistency?
What is this reader/user looking for?

When I think of consistency, at least what I would think of as useful consistency, I
think of having information presented in the same way across procedures or sections.
If one section is organized around, say, Background, Set Up, Procedure, I would like
to see all comment sections organized the same way. If procedures make extensive use
of graphic aids--screen shots, type face conventions, etc.--I'd like to see all
procedures set up the same way.

The benefit I see in such consistency is that I, as reader/user, can quickly
determine that I have the information I need. If some sections are done one way and
others another way, I might find it difficult to quickly isolate the information I
need (or determine that what I'm looking for is not in the documentation).

That's an off-the-top-of-my-head reason I can see for consistency. As for preferring
consistency over accuracy? Well, I just don't know about that one. I'd have to probe further.

=====
Tom Murrell
mailto:tmurrell -at- columbus -dot- rr -dot- com
http://home.columbus.rr.com/murrell/index.html Last Updated 10/28/02
--First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.
Thomas a Kempis (1380 - 1471), 1420--

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References:
what I recently heard: From: Sean Hower

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