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Subject:RE: Squashed egos... it ain't pretty! From:"Jeanne A. E. DeVoto" <jaed -at- jaedworks -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 6 Oct 1999 20:00:04 -0700
At 11:06 AM -0700 10/6/99, barry -dot- kieffer -at- exgate -dot- tek -dot- com wrote:
>The ignorance I have to deal with goes something like this:
>
>Program Manager:
>"We need to cut down on the time and cost of all of the documentation you
>create. Instead of writing all of the (paper) manuals, how much time and
>money can we save if you JUST put everything online?"
>
>Gee Mr. Program Manager, if I "JUST" put everything online, I don't have to
>write a thing! It will just be there (somehow).
While I realize I haven't worked with this guy and don't know whether he's
really this stupid, I suspect you are misunderstanding Mr. Manager here.
After everything's written, it has to go out to production and be printed.
This typically adds weeks to the documentation cycle. And of course
printing and binding is expensive. Eliminating these costs and going direct
to online production *will* save some money and time; his question is a
reasonable one.
(Simply dumping material designed for print onto a disk is unlikely to
result in user satisfaction with the documentation...but this is a more
subtle point.)
