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Re: Help on Coordination between Engineers and Technical Witers
Subject:Re: Help on Coordination between Engineers and Technical Witers From:k k <turnleftatnowhere -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 26 Feb 2004 09:55:35 -0800 (PST)
The best way to improve information flow between
engineers and TWs - at least from the engineers' point
of view - is to make the process as automatic and
transparent as possible. One of the worst problems
with communication is that engineers get so focused on
what they're doing they just never even think about
notifying the docs people. (That is not a condemnation
of engineers, just an observation.)
I agree with the idea of the tech writers getting
plugged in to the bug tracking system. However,
usually the system will need some modification to
provide for the TW's needs. It needs to be set up so
the person making entries has to plug in data that
exactly identifies the project, and the notices it
sends out must include project identification. It must
be set up so the bug entry writer has to indicate
whether the bug may cause a documentation change. And
the action of indicating whether the entry affects
documentation must be a required step, because if that
is left as the entry writer's option, lots of times he
won't remember.
For example, where I work the bug tracking system
sends me update notices, but it is almost worthless
for my purposes. There are no provisions in the
system for noting if a product change affects
documentation. The system automatically sends messages
to defined groups when an entry is created or updated,
but while the software requires the entry writer to
specify which project the entry is for, the
notification messages do not include the project name.
The only way I can tell if a bug entry applies to
documentation is to go into the tracking system and
use the item ID number to find and read the associated
description. On an average day it takes me almost 40
minutes just to check the bug tracking update messages
and find that only one item out of 50 actually applies
to my work.
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