TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:What do you call them? From:Feeman Kevin SC2275 <Feeman_Kevin_SC2275 -at- SATGATE -dot- SAT -dot- MOT -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 5 Aug 1997 08:29:50 MST
Hey all, first off all thanks for all the response of getting
registered and trademark symbols in to my Web Page. Works
wonderfully!!
Another question. I am in a weird situation where I work, as a
subcontractor at Motorola's IRIDIUM project. The basic philosophy of
documentation since I started here is "Just get the documents out
there for people to look at."
I hate this philosophy because it does not lend itself to getting the
document properly reviewed by the SME, other people who use it,
managers, what have you. So, documents get "released" to people that
are not very good, for whatever the reason. There was no process of
how to get signatures, approvals, reviews, what have you.
Therefore, when I started, I started to put "DRAFT COPY" on the
document's cover page and footers. I made it clear that I was not
happy the documents were not being reviewed and signed off (which is
weird, because everyone here sees the need for documentation, I guess
just not good documentation), and until that happened, the documents
would remain a DRAFT COPY.
Well, yesterday, the question came up in a staff meeting from the
group manager why the documents are called DRAFT. Which got me
thinking. Perhaps the words DRAFT COPY were not appropriate in this
situation because many of the documents are completed, just not
inspected. I have been tossing around terms in my mind like:
1. unapproved
2. prerelease
You get the idea. I was wondering what my peers call documents that
have been "released" but not officially approved.
Please rely off-line and if there is sufficient desire, I will post a
summary. Thanks in advance
Kevin
TECHWR-L (Technical Communication) List Information: To send a message
to 2500+ readers, e-mail to TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU -dot- Send commands
to LISTSERV -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU (e.g. HELP or SIGNOFF TECHWR-L).
Search the archives at http://www.documentation.com/ or search and
browse the archives at http://listserv.okstate.edu/archives/techwr-l.html
