Technical Writing - How to Keep a Document Status Log to Control Your Technical Document Process
Imagine you're a technical writer working for a hi-tech company with different offices in different cities, and (who knows?) may be even on different continents.
Let's say your job as a technical writer is complicated by the following factors: 1) You're working on more than one assignments at a time.
2) Your review and project team members are not located in the same office where you work.
Here is what might happen next: You write the first draft of Document A on Assignment A and send it to the Review Team (RT) A in City A.
Then while you're waiting to receive the feedback and comments from RT A, you start working on Document B for Assignment B.
After a while you realize that you did not get the feedback from RT A yet since there has been a change in project specs and now they ask you to modify certain sections of Document A to reflect those spec changes.
In the meanwhile, you finish the first draft of Document B and send it out to RT B.
That's also the time when your Manager asks how it's going with Document A since the Project A Leader has complained to your Manager that the first draft did not reflect the latest spec changes - forgetting to disclose that those changes were implemented AFTER you submitted the first draft.
While you try to explain the situation to your Manager, she asks the date on which you've exactly sent the first drafts to RT A and RT B.
All of a sudden you are at a loss and you promise your Manager that you'll dig through your past e-mails and compile a list of dates.
Then you mention that you also spoke to two members of Project B and appraised them of the progress on Document B.
When your Manager asks you the date on which such conversation took place, you again feel at a loss because you have not recorded it anywhere.
Does this look a bit complicated to you? If it does, trust me, that's exactly how sometimes things may look and feel in the fast-paced environment of a hi-tech company.
You can easily lose track of the various changes, conversations and communications that relate to your documents if you do not keep careful records.
That's why I strongly recommend you keep a Document Status Log for every document you're working on.
This should be a table with the following columns: Date, Description.
The rows should reserved for dates.
Every time a significant development takes place that has anything to do with your document, whether it's a phone conversation or a feedback sent or received, record it in this log, together with the names of all parties involved.
If, for example, you send an email to five persons, record all their names in this log.
If you record and track every single thing that happens to a document during its development process you can easily clear away any questions, concerns or misunderstandings that sometimes crop up in hi-tech business environments.
You won't regret it.
Let's say your job as a technical writer is complicated by the following factors: 1) You're working on more than one assignments at a time.
2) Your review and project team members are not located in the same office where you work.
Here is what might happen next: You write the first draft of Document A on Assignment A and send it to the Review Team (RT) A in City A.
Then while you're waiting to receive the feedback and comments from RT A, you start working on Document B for Assignment B.
After a while you realize that you did not get the feedback from RT A yet since there has been a change in project specs and now they ask you to modify certain sections of Document A to reflect those spec changes.
In the meanwhile, you finish the first draft of Document B and send it out to RT B.
That's also the time when your Manager asks how it's going with Document A since the Project A Leader has complained to your Manager that the first draft did not reflect the latest spec changes - forgetting to disclose that those changes were implemented AFTER you submitted the first draft.
While you try to explain the situation to your Manager, she asks the date on which you've exactly sent the first drafts to RT A and RT B.
All of a sudden you are at a loss and you promise your Manager that you'll dig through your past e-mails and compile a list of dates.
Then you mention that you also spoke to two members of Project B and appraised them of the progress on Document B.
When your Manager asks you the date on which such conversation took place, you again feel at a loss because you have not recorded it anywhere.
Does this look a bit complicated to you? If it does, trust me, that's exactly how sometimes things may look and feel in the fast-paced environment of a hi-tech company.
You can easily lose track of the various changes, conversations and communications that relate to your documents if you do not keep careful records.
That's why I strongly recommend you keep a Document Status Log for every document you're working on.
This should be a table with the following columns: Date, Description.
The rows should reserved for dates.
Every time a significant development takes place that has anything to do with your document, whether it's a phone conversation or a feedback sent or received, record it in this log, together with the names of all parties involved.
If, for example, you send an email to five persons, record all their names in this log.
If you record and track every single thing that happens to a document during its development process you can easily clear away any questions, concerns or misunderstandings that sometimes crop up in hi-tech business environments.
You won't regret it.
