Getting more than nits from reviews? (take III)

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Susan Hogarth replied: <<OK, I am properly raked-over-the-coals.>>

It is barbeque season, after all. <g>

<<However, I haven't presented it exactly right.>>

Now you learn the heavy price of laziness! <g>

<<These are more team members than SMEs - THEY have done the writing.  
They send it to me. I knit the pieces together  loosely. My boss says  
"They need more details" (he always says that) and I ask them to  
provide more details. They may be doing an entire re-write at this  
stage. Still copyedit?>>

Sounds like you've got exactly the kind of seemingly logical but  
hopelessly inefficient process we used at a former employer. (Where  
we got fed up, did a Kaizen exercise, and cut report production times  
by something like 75%.) The key here is to learn the concept of  
outlining before you begin writing: nail down the content _before_  
you start writing, and you cut the number of iterations enormously.  
For details:
Outlining: http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2006/outlining.htm
Review process: http://www.geoff-hart.com/resources/2005/reviews.htm

In any event, if these people are team members, you should be  
emphasizing discussion and consensus, not endless shuffling of  
documents between desks.


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
--------------------------------------------------
Coming soon:  _Effective onscreen editing_ (http://www.geoff-hart.com/ 
home/onscreen-book.htm)

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