Hello everyone, I'm the first and only technical writer employed by a smallish company. I'm wondering how to go about consolidating our technical writing. Currently, we have a mixture of developers, salespeople, and project managers (located in geographically dispersed offices) all writing documentation that ultimately ends up with the customer. Without wanting to disparage anyone, I have to say that the quality is shocking. I'm sure they know it, too, but I'd also bet my bottom dollar that the individuals involved (especially the salespeople & PMs) would be averse to the suggestion that *their* work is at fault. (The developers generally know their documents are awful, I've spoken with them and they'd be grateful for some direction).
So I'm now planning to put together a "documentation roadmap", if you like. The first step has already been implemented, and that was to adopt a consistent terminology guide. So far, it's been well-received because everyone was aware that it was needed, and the company is small enough that I can afford to get feedback from pretty much everyone who will be using it. I'm wondering what my next step should be. I see the following needs: - a company style guide (when I started, I said we should just follow MS style, but some of the highly-placed staff don't seem to like it and want us to have our own. Whatever, I'm not too fussed as long as the end result is consistency between documents). This would probably take about a month to implement, including reviews and sign-off from managers. - review of the current company Word template. Ditto, about a month's work, and some really tricky sense-of-ownership issues to work through. I'm getting marketing to help me out with this one. - moving most of the writing to dedicated technical writers (this, I feel, is the tricky bit, as people currently writing documentation may feel that their jobs are being threatened). Alternatively, at least getting a technical writer (i.e. me, I guess!) to review documents before the customers get them. I'd like to know if anyone has been in a similar situation, and how did you handle it? What was the biggest stumbling block, which bits were surprisingly easy or difficult to implement? Thanks for your time! Trish :) _______________________________________________ Interested in Interactive 3D Documentation? Get the scoop at http://www.doc-u-motion.com Your 3D Documentation Community. _______________________________________________ Technical Communication Professionals To post a message to the list, send an email to [email protected] To find out more about the list, including archives and your account options, visit http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com If you need assistance with the list, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
