What would we do without document templates?

[Halo Jones]

Indeed, but these problems are surely rooted in employing the wrong people; is it really such a good idea to inhibit the creativity of, and waste the time of good people?

But these people can be very good at the practical aspect of their job (building stuff) so that a weakness in literacy (not that uncommon) is accommodated.

Templates also act as reminders to included specific items – this I would say is the primary function of a template as opposed to uniform appearance.

[Mich the Tester]

Templates also act as reminders to included specific items – this I would say is the primary function of a template as opposed to uniform appearance.

A short checklist/cheatsheet could do that.

[vetran]

A short checklist/cheatsheet could do that.

The benefit is a template forces you to put the information in a specific order and style.

We have DR & support templates for thousands of sites and you can find the right bit of information in each one in seconds. One day it will be automated!

[d000hg]

Can someone generate templates for CUK?

[vetran]

I have started on this:

Current WIP:

QS0001 - Are you cut out to be a contractor?
QS0002 - Have you bled the radiators?
QS0003 - Its the Wail
QS0004 - Would Mitch?

Its a sort of FAQ with options to extend.

any other suggestions?

[eek]

The benefit is a template forces you to put the information in a specific order and style.

We have DR & support templates for thousands of sites and you can find the right bit of information in each one in seconds. One day it will be automated!

What happens when the DR documentation system is one of the systems down?

[Mich the Tester]

I have started on this:

Current WIP:

QS0001 - Are you cut out to be a contractor?
QS0002 - Have you bled the radiators?
QS0003 - Its the Wail
QS0004 - Would Mitch?

Its a sort of FAQ with options to extend.

any other suggestions?

QS0002 can't possibly fulfill the CMMI Level 2 requirements without including a reference to servicing the boiler.

Once you've corrected that, gladiators and chutney spoons might keep you busy for a while.

[cojak]

Clients need style manuals more than templates (or at least the templates should be in the style manual appendix).

A previous client had an anal senior manager who edited every document put in front of him. If they'd had a style manual following his idea of written English (correct but old-fashioned) then people would not have wasted time correcting how many spaces to put after full stops or whether to use semicolons when using lists.