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Subject:Re: Do you permit SMEs to revise your drafts? From:Chris Gooch <chris -dot- gooch -at- lightworkdesign -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 2 Dec 2003 12:18:14 -0000
Patricia wrote:
++
I?ve done a quick archive search and came up empty-handed, so here goes:
In general, do you permit your SMEs to revise your drafts directly, or to
report their concerns to you?
If you prefer that they report any concerns or corrections to you, how do
you collect the feedback? So far, I?ve seen several different approaches
to this problem, including: marking up a hard copy of the draft, typing an
email or other report that lists the page number and correction to all
problems located, and finally, using a revisions or track changes feature
of the tool in use.
++
As others have said, a) it depends and b) you probably need to be
flexible!
I always try to fit in with whatever seems most convenient to the
SMEs (software developers); who all tend to have their own preferences.
Some will print off a 150 page manual and go through it with a red
pen. Some will read PDFs on screen and email a list of points.
Some would like to mark up a PDF using Acrobat but don't have the
correct Adobe licence so can't. And quite a few are quite happy to
alter the docs source directly (which the developers all have
access to since it is kept in Perforce alongside the codebase).
I'm happy for them to alter the docs source direct, but with these
caveats; they tell me what they've done (also I have set Perforce up
to alert me when certain files are updated), and most importantly,
I get to check the changes and do any necessary QA / editing.
This all seems to work pretty well for us... I guess there's a natural
self-sorting going on in that the guys who are happy to update the
docs sources directly generally do a decent job anyhow whilst the
guys that prefer to email a few bullet points or a rambling 2 page
Word doc... well maybe I'd be less happy if they altered the real
docs sources themselves but they don't! So it all sorts itself out.
Chris.
Christopher Gooch, Technical Author
LightWork Design, Sheffield, UK.
www.lightworkdesign.com
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