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Subject:Re: What would you do? From:John Posada <jposada01 -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:Kevin McGowan <thatguy_80 -at- hotmail -dot- com>, techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com Date:Wed, 21 Mar 2007 16:26:36 -0700 (PDT)
> So, here I am...with a bunch of crappy and poorly-maintained
> Word files, and I need to create a state-of-the-art XML system.
> They keep talking about DITA...but I'm not convinced that the
> DITA format is the perfect way to go.
> Frankly, I'm not sure about much at the moment.
It sounds like your company is thinking that the existing crapy (your
word) documentation problems will all go away by switching to
XML/DITA.
In my experience, the more complex a process is, the worse the
existing bad stuff becomes. If you want to switch to a more complex
system because you want to do more complex things, that's fine.
However, at the same time, you should be getting your documentation
into order.
Also...XML/DITA requires the discipline to following a process.
Usualy, crappy documentation is a result of NOT having the discipline
to following a process. Untill your company has that discipline, your
going to end up with even worse bad documentation in a system more
difficult to use.
John Posada
Senior Technical Writer
"They say everyone needs goals. Mine is to live forever.
So far, so good."
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