Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Outsourcing documentation services

Author:Val Cohen
Posted:5/9/1999; 7:26:16 PM
Topic:Outsourcing documentation services
Msg #:5915
Prev/Next:5914 / 5916

Sorry if this question is too far off-topic -- if y'all don't want to discuss this in this forum, tell me to piss off and I'll oblige. But I thought there'd be some people in this group who could give me some insight.

I work in an IS department of about 80 people in a company of 2,000, and we have the typical hodgepodge of systems, processes, interfaces, methodologies, custom code, etc. I've been asked to investigate the viability of outsourcing the work of documentation -- costs and pros/cons.

Unlike other outsourcing targets, I think this one wouldn't threaten anyone's job, because we currently do a poor job, so we couldn't point to how much time we'd save -- we don't spend much time on it now! Hopefully, tho, we'd get better, more consistent, more timely documentation.

One way it might work: I imagine that when we made a change, we'd get in touch with our technical writer -- they might even live onsite, if there's enough work -- and get debriefed. We'd turn over notes, diagrams, etc., and spend some time explaining what we've done (or are about to do). Then the writer would go away and turn this information into documentation in a standardized form (using XML, of course ;-> ), review it with us and then turn it in.

Does anyone have any experience with this? Opinions despite having no experience? What's the cost for technical writing on a contract basis? What do I gain and lose by this approach?

Any and all answers welcome, either to this forum or directly to me at val_cohen@notes.freedom.com

Thanks!

Val Cohen Newsroom Systems Manager The Orange County Register

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