re: Another question I've had for years.
I wonder if it's just a coincidence that these sorts of complaints
always seem to come from writers who work in development
environments where the end product is software or other IP?
And TechComm Dood replied:
Well, last-minute tweaks are easier to justify in SW/IP,
unfortunately. Well, really, they're not, but they're easier to
"squeak in". ;-)
It all boils down to project planning, responsibility, and
accountability. Some companies have it, and some don't.
To which I add this:
It isn't always the last minute things. Like you said, some companies project plan and some don't. However, even in the companies that project plan, not all companies document.
I worked for two educational software companies as a programmer. One documented everything, including last minute changes. The original planning teams consisted of designer, programmer, artist, tech writer. The tech writer would then document the project as he understood it from the meeting and passed it around for review. When everyone in the design team had approved it as being correct, the project was green-lighted. The programmers would be required to follow the documentation script. Other programmers would peer-review the project - not just to see if it worked, but to see if it followed the approved script - before it was delivered for testing. Any changes to the script had to be approved by the original designer. Once we delivered the product to testing, they tested the product out the wazoo. Again, they tested it against the approved script. If testing felt something didn't work logically, they would sit down with the programmer. If they couldn't resolve it according
to the script, they discussed it with the designer. It was a little bit tedious at times, but it kept everyone on the same page.
Contrast this with another company I worked for. They project planned - I think. The reason I say "I think" is I never saw any documentation. All I got was "the program needs to do this in such and such a way" - verbally. They did not test it. They did not peer review. I asked for documentation. They said "what documentation?" I suggested we document. They said "why bother? It's worked fine so far." We did not have any tech writers as such. Eventually, they hired a testing team because the program was becoming "too big to leave it up to the programmers." Which I wholeheartedly agreed with, by the way. Unfortunately, the testing team manager had the same problems regarding documentation as I did. She was just as frustrated as I was. I started documenting what I did for the testers. The testers thanked me profusely. The managers either chewed me out for wasting time or were indifferent.
The companies had been in existence for about the same lengths of time at the time I joined their staffs. They were more or less the same size. (50-100 employees) However, one is now still doing well and the other is struggling. I will leave it up to the reader to figure out which is which. I don't think it'll be hard.
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