RE: The Documentation Being Put Through Qual Assistance Process

[<laura_johnson -at- agilent -dot- com>]

Hi Agnes,

There are two issues here: writers reporting to the QA department, and doc being subjected to the QA process. Others have noted (and I agree) that it's always hard to report to someone who doesn't understand your job. I suppose the only answer is to train your boss....

I report to R&D (which is lovely), but we've recently been working with a QA team in India. As part of this shift, I've begun including my documentation (mostly online help) in the QA process. I think it's a good thing .... BUT ...

This sort of QA is NOT a substitute for SME review and the other levels of edit you describe. SME review is part of the development process (sort of like Unit Test for software, if that helps to explain it to the QA manager). It should be done before the QA people get the doc, because the doc will naturally change a lot during & after SME review. Does your manager actually think you don't *need* SME review? If so, as another poster noted, you need to somehow revise your manager's idea of what "quality" means in documentation.

The QA people can be very helpful for two types of review/testing:
- Naïve eyes on the documentation. If your QA folks are less familiar with the overall functioning of the product than the developers are, they may find holes that the developers miss. In particular, they may follow procedures the way you've documented them instead of the way they "really work", thus finding discrepancies that others miss.
- Mechanical testing of the online help: Do the links work? (Having someone else test that is GREAT if you have a big help system!) Are the intended entries present in the table of contents and index, and do they go to the right place (or at least to a place that makes sense)? Does the online help actually come up & look normal on all supported platforms?


regards, 
  Laura Johnson 
  Learning Products Engineer
  Agilent Technologies
  Loveland, Colorado


-----Original Message-----
From: Agnes Starr [mailto:zigrocstarr -at- yahoo -dot- com] 
Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 10:26 PM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: The Documentation Being Put Through Qual Assistance Process

Hello Techwhirl
   
  At my job we just had a reorganization and they put documentation under Quality Assurance of all places. Our documentation is fully RoboHelp - fully electronic. They want to put the documentation fully through the Quality Assurance process which means that it is run through the Bug write-up process. They told me that this means that I have to learn the Quality Assurance process and employ that same process for the upkeep of the documentation. First the "Development" phase, and then the Qual Assurance first phase, then it goes back to Development for Development Second Phase (which means Documentation) and then the Qual Assurance Second phase and then it is "Production Ready. They told me that I have to oversee all of this for me, (I am the only person documenting) and for two Quality Assurance people who are assigned to review the documentation.
   
  I have a question. Everywhere I have ever worked, in order to put the documentation through a review cycle, we had "Levels of Edit." We had the levels of "SMEs". We didn't have it run through the Quality Assurance department like is done for software. But then again I have never worked anywhere that was 100% electronic. We have always done it where it was first a peer review edit, then the programmer, then the manager, then a person close to the customer, some type of SME. That was our type of "Quality Control" process.It was levels of edit because it is writing that is to be read and understood. It is not production and deadlines. It was not this type of "Quality Control" process.
   
  I feel like I am being given a new hat and I am not sure I like it, or that I have the background. I can handle it if I am trained but it is like strict deadlines with all this talk of production schedules and keeping up with where the Quality Assurance people are which is not even my department. I have never had to do this.
   
  Did I just miss something in my career path? Is this a common way of doing things? An uncommon way? Is it wise? Unwise? Or neither? 
   
  Can someone give me some idea or their thoughts about what I am being asked to do because it feels weird. This does not feel like documentation. My new boss is a QA person and knows little to nothing about documentation. His only way of judging me is whether or not a deadline is met. His only way of judging the documentation is whether we can make it fewer topics so that we have less to maintain and if we can shorten the topics.Nothing is about how well things are explained and developed for the user. It is like his whole orientation is from a Qa standpoint and my new hat just feels like it is very production and QA oriented. 
   
  Your thoughts?
   
  Agnes S.

 			
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