atw: Re: Statistics to demonstrate value ...

  • From: "Christine Kent" <cmkentau@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:27:23 +1100

Hmmm, interesting discussion.  I was wondering how you had gotten away with
it for so long.

"Gotten away with what?"  Don't worry, I'm not being nasty.

First , we are talking ONLY about Word .

Second, let's differentiate between in-house and public documents.  I am
talking about "in-house documents" and also external documents like tender
documents, but NOT about marketing products or support materials for
external products.  

Third, let's differentiate between two schools of thought relating to
"in-house documents". There is the "KISS" approach, and the "design, lock
down and manage complex templates in the hope that no-one can mess them up,
and if they do you will fix them", approach.

I follow the former approach, and I know many of you follow the latter - for
one thing, it is a good way to stay employed.  You believe that it is
possible to design Word documents that cannot be messed up, and somehow
achieve an overall high corporate wide standard.  I don't.

If I am right, then what  is left is the KISS approach - to make the
templates absolutely as simple as possible, and ensure that they are
designed to use the ribbon bullets and numbering (which has become possible
with 2007).  If you follow this approach it is a good idea to cut and run,
as it doesn't work either, but it, in my opinion, makes less mess than the
other approach when it goes wrong.

I started following the KISS approach when I realised that no-one but a tech
writer gives a pinch of putrescible matter what the document looks like as
long as it is readable and serves its purpose.  It can use ugly fonts, ugly
layout, 27 different bullet styles, 38 different margin indentations, spaces
to force layout changes, faulty headers and footers, blah blah blah, and
no-one but us even sees the mess, let alone cares.

To me this is the simple truth, so it doesn't really matter how much value
we add or think we add, and it doesn't matter how much it &!$$@$ me off.
"They" don't think we add value, and they get what they pay (or don't pay)
for.

So where would productivity loss show and how can it be remedied if it is?
1       Can you show productivity loss resulting from reading badly
formatted documents?  I doubt it.
2       Can you show productivity loss resulting from excess time taken by
the writer to format a bad document?  I think that one might be possible and
would provide an argument for training in the use of simple templates.
3       Can you show productivity gains from having complex documents
managed by a professional and highly skilled document manager?  I seriously
doubt it.  At best, that person is an added optional expense on top of
mandatory expenses.  That expense can only be justified if the documents in
some way contribute to the public perception of the company.

ck




-----Original Message-----
From: austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Suzy
Sent: Monday, 19 October 2009 12:24 PM
To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: atw: Statistics to demonstrate value ...



Hi writers
I'm currently having to justify my employment value; not sure if 
it's possible.  This might be a long email, apologies, but I'm 
hoping the information and feed back will be useful to more than 
me.

I hope this isn't off-topic - if so, please accept my apologies 
and ignore this post.

The Director of Finance has the view that 2007 is so easy to use 
that the corporation shouldn't need additional Microsoft Word 
support.

Firstly - if you worked for a corporation with 100 engineers all 
creating new technical documents, from Functional Specifications, 
to System Design documents,to Tender Responses (all over 50 pages) 
in Microsoft Word
1. Would you agree that they required no additional Microsoft Word 
support in ensuring their documents adhered to the corporate brand 
and style guide?
And if so, would you only see that support as being required for 
setting up templates?  Or adhering to the style guide?
And would you believe that these document authors would 
necessarily have the Word skills to format in accordance with the 
style guide.

(Note: These authors do not have time to attend training, or 
glance at the style guide).

At the risk of opening up World War III, I have been making the 
point that Microsoft Word in any version is flawed as a long 
document tool.  Yes, 2007 is easier to use than earlier versions 
(for new users and once you get used to it for other Version 
users) for creating short documents, but I personally see the same 
problems in long documents that I have seen from unskilled Word  
authors/formatters in earlier versions.

From what I have seen, those who don't find Word a problem for 
large documents, usually work with a conservative template 
structure, for example, it utilises tables to keep the paragraphs 
aligned, and does not require the author to understand correct 
style usage to create a consistently formatted document.  And the 
documents have a standard structure that doesn't require or allow 
for added sections etc.  It's conservative and does the job, but 
doesn't necessarily look like it has been formatted by a 
professional (desktop publisher).

Please feel free to let me if you agree or disagree with my 
assumption.  I haven't worked in a wide range of organisations 
over the last couple of years and things may have changed as 2007 
has become more widely used.

Would be very happy to hear your views on that!

I was wondering if someone on this list knew where I could find 
some technical writing statistics, or if as I suspect they are not 
published, if people on this list would like to respond with their 
experience, I will collate and forward back to the list.  If you 
want other categories added in, let me know I'll add them in and 
re-send.  As you can see, Statistical analysis is not really my 
area of specialty.

Appreciate any feedback.  The role I am in is a Senior Technical 
Writing role, which is more of a Documentation Management role; I 
don't do a lot of writing, but I assist others in improving their 
content, develop content libraries, and setup templates and 
provide VBA tools to assist authors with more complex Word tasks, 
such as Insert Landscape pages.  It falls to me to ensure 
documentation standards are kept, I provide templatea nd 
formatting support to around 100 engineers.  The role has very 
little requirement for online Help authoring, and a lot to do with 
Proposals and Delivery documentation.

It would be good to know even what percentage of the Technical 
Writing community have over 5 years experience as start.
Do you have over 5 years experience?
 Your Answer:

For those who do have over 5 years experience, things I need to 
know are:

- % who use Microsoft Word vs Other tools for the majority (over 
75%) of their authoring work
Do you? Your Answer:

Of those who use Word in their authoring work:
- % who are IT technical vs IT procedural vs Other technical vs 
Other prodedural vs Other
Is your experience in one or more of these categories, and which?  
Your Answer:

- % who have proposal/tender response experience (over 5 years)
Do you? Your Answer:

- % who have IT system documentation experience (over 5 years)
Do you?  Your Answer:

- % who have technical copyrighting experience (over 5 years)
Do you?  Your Answer:

- % who have experience in more than one category of proposal 
writing experience, system documentation and technical 
copyrighting experience.
Which categories? Your Answer:

- % who have template design and build experience for technical 
documentation in a large corporation as well as corporate 
documentation (ie letters, fax covers, forms etc) (over 3 years)
Do you? Your Answer:

- % who have Word VBA macro development experience.
Do you? And at what level -Beginner, Moderate or Advanced. Your 
Answer:

Any help would be appreciate, whether you know of similar studies 
etc would be great.  I realise this might be a big ask - but if 
so, just ignore.  It's voluntary!

thanks in advance!
regards
Suzy

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