Re: Walk-throughs

[Richard Lippincott <rlippincott -at- YAHOO -dot- COM>]

Kate Skilton asked:

> I was wondering if anyone out there had ever conducted a manual
> walkthrough, either in the preliminary or final stages. I'm looking
> for a different approach to our walkthroughs. I work for a company
> where nobody wants to sit down and dedicate a few hours to the
> quality of our manuals.
>
> Ideas anyone?

I'm doing it now. (Well, actually -right- now I'm
responding to this message, of course...)

We had the same problem at our company, as I'm sure many of us have
experienced. So what happened?

I submitted a quality improvement suggestion as part of ISO 9000
certification. The suggestion said, essentially, "Let's face it,
nobody wants to review the
documentation. As a result, our reputation is suffering. I propose
that we create a QA position for a doc tester. The full-time job of
the doc tester will be
to review the manuals and perform the procedures. All of them." I then
backed it up with my experience doing essentially the same thing while
working at defense contractors.

I was more than a little surprised when they actually went for it.
Then I applied for the position I suggested they create, and they
hired me for it.

I've been doing doc testing for about a year now. I'm averaging about
30 bugs a month filed against the docs. We've had a measurable
increase in the quality, and
everybody is happy about it.

(Well, my old boss isn't thrilled when I file a bug against his
department. But other than that...)
==

Richard Lippincott
Comverse Network Systems
Andover, Massachusetts
rlippincott -at- yahoo -dot- com
rjl -at- comverse -dot- com

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