atw: Re: Report from a parallel universe - Manuals to cherish
- From: "Michelle Hallett" <michelle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 4 Jul 2010 15:22:01 +1000
Warren,
The system designer is right. Never underestimate the power of a beautifully
designed document. Most people just look at it and assume it must be good
without reading it. Even writers aren't immune to that type of thinking,
which I learnt managing the STC competitions a few years ago.
Michelle
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Trussler
Sent: Friday, 2 July 2010 10:18 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Report from a parallel universe - Manuals to cherish
oops, I am entering my anecdotage.
Bob T
On 1 July 2010 09:12, LEWINGTON Warren <Warren_LEWINGTON@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I remember you telling this story. It is worth keeping in mind...
Regards
Warren Lewington
Technical Writer
Compliance and Enforcement Branch
_____
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Trussler
Sent: Wednesday, 30 June 2010 10:06 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Re: Report from a parallel universe - Manuals to cherish
Warren,
A system designer and the author of a high level design, that I had edited
and pubished online, wanted to print it in a format that the developers and
analysts would 'cherish'.
'You want what???'
'If we give them a document in the usual crappy white two-ring binder, they
will put it on their shelves, forget about it, after some use it starts to
fall apart, pages fall out, then they will trash it in the next office move.
But if it looks good, is nicely bound, has a stylish cover, then it becomes
something to cherish.'
We printed it with a card cover and a binding rather like a paperback book.
The title on the cover was 'nice and stylish' (whatever that means).
It was well received.
Being a record of a system's high level design, there was very little
change.
About five years later, I was back at that department and wanted some
information that I knew was in that doc. I wandered into the developer's
area and looked around. Most of the bookshelves still had this document. A
young developer who was new to the area offered help. I asked to read his
copy of the doc. He started to tell me what a great doc it was, how he
liked (cherished) it, and so on. The painful part was not laughing, made
worse by several older developers having a chuckle.
I contacted the original author and told him that his work and design was
still being cherished.
"Of course it is!"
Bob Trussler
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