Saving time in the doc development process

["John P. Brinegar" <johnbri -at- PRIMENET -dot- COM>]

As I said yesterday, LaVonna Funkhouser wrote

>OK, I'll bite.  John, please share with the list your time-saving
>suggestions for improving the development process.

And then, I said I would in a day or so.

Well, the more I think about this, the bigger this job gets. So here is
what I intend to offer:
Below is a tentative outline of an article I plan to write. I'll send it to
those who request it as an HTML file that you can read with any web
browser(Netscape, Mosaic, etc.). If nobody requests it, I'll still have fun
writing it.

If there is enough interest, I could also offer it as a FrameMaker 4 file
(an email/e-mail attachment).

I expect the aritcle will be available a day or so after Christmas (happy
holidays, everbody!)

------------Outline-----------------
Saving time in the document development process
  General time savers
       Use time management
       Use cross-functional teams
       Use user job and task analysis
       Do what users need and nothing more
       Work longer hours
       Minimize interruptions
       Go home!
  Gaining enough time to do quality documentation
       Get management to buy in
       Get commitments from your sources
       Get involved early
   When there is not enough time to do quality documentation
       Do the least you can without killing the product
       Promise more and better later
       Find another job

-----------------------------------
John P. Brinegar, http://www.netzone.com/~jbrinega/
Consulting and development
-Performance support systems
-Technical communications

Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.A.
(602) 278-7398
johnbri -at- primenet -dot- com