On Oct 28, 2006, at 10:29 PM, Chris Manning wrote: > [snip]
> 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 :) > > Howdy. Well, I haven't been in exactly the same situation, but I have been in a similar situation. Implementing change in a small company requires an abundance of social skills, which it sounds like you've already discovered. :) Getting people to agree on a standard is the hardest thing, I think. That lays the axe at their tree of independence and tends to elicit howls of "But this is how we've *always* done this" and "I've worked here for 20 years, and..." and "That's now how company XYZ does it!" Nevertheless, if you want to convince them that technical writing is best left to the experts (and it isn't just something that they can do in their spare moments), getting a style guide approved is the first thing to do. Then these lone rangers will feel that it's not as fun anymore, and they will be more willing to let someone else do it. The step after that is to get a review by technical writers before the words reach the customer. A few pages of dripping red and they'll find it even less fun. :) Having management support on this is critical. If those folks waver, the process unravels. I didn't find any of it easy. Most of the people I worked with wanted standard documents and shared controlling documents, but the brick wall was management. They viewed such ground-up developments as a threat to their power, and thought it made them look less-than competent. A second wall were the information hoarders -- people who would under no circumstances let go of a part of the process; they had worked there for years and were scared to death that they could work nowhere else. Best ~Tarage _______________________________________________ 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]
