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Subject:Re: Publications Plans From:Michael Lewis <lewism -at- BRANDLE -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Wed, 7 Jan 1998 12:14:41 +1100
Publications plans go back a long way. R. John Brockmann, in the various
versions of his "Standard Documentation Process" (see his various
editions of "Writing Better Software Documentation for Users") uses the
concept of "blueprints"; I borrowed that term when I developed a
"documentation engineering" methodology for a Japanese company (they
needed to be able to improve documentation processes and create more
easily translatable manuals). Nowadays, I use the term "documentation
specs" -- still essentially equivalent to Brockmann's blueprints: a
written statement of the required attributes (audience, tasks to be
supported, info needs, info structures; layout & typography issues; etc,
etc, etc.)
What JoAnn Hackos does is include project estimates & metrics, so that a
full pubs plan covers both "what we are going to produce" and "how we
are going to produce it". Although documentation project estimating is
no more reliable than software development project estimating, any
half-way sensible estimate is better than none.
--
Michael Lewis
Brandle Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia
PO Box 1249, Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012
Tel +61-2-9310-2224 ... Fax +61-2-9310-5056
