Re: Do you do QA?

[Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET>]

At 03:13 PM 7/30/96 -0500, you wrote:
>Tim asked:
>--------------------  ORIGINAL MESSAGE TEXT  --------------------

>As stated, this is  bizarre enough to make me want more information. I've
>never known an organization to abruptly anoint tech writers as QA engineers.
>Is there some other reason that we just don't know yet...are the writers
>expected to document QA procedures, for example?

>--------------------  END OF ORIGINAL MESSAGE  --------------------

>Me neither. We would be expected to *write* those QA procedures, not just
>document them. Meaning, design the tests.

>As far as I can tell, the reason for doing this is to include writers in the
>design phase of projects and to get the most out of the current staff, since we
>don't have the budget to hire real QA people.

>-- Karen

Wow. It's as bizarre as I thought. Well, it would probably be a good thing
to have for training/resume purposes, if you can stand to do it. I think a
tech doc'er should take every opportunity for wider horizons. But I wouldn't
expect to do really high-level QA work for quite some time. It's a full-time
profession, just as ours is. But if you're willing to do it for the
experience, then I'd advise that you plunge happily in up to your elbows.

Tim Altom
Vice President, Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 (voice) 317.899.5987 (fax)
FrameMaker support  ForeHelp support

Makers of DuoFrame, giving you online help and paper
documentation from a single parent FrameMaker document.

http://www.simplywritten.com/simply

                  TECHWR-L List Information
To send a message about technical communication to 2500+ list readers,
E-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot-  Send administrative commands
         ALL other questions or problems concerning the list
       should go to the listowner, Eric Ray, at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-