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Re: What about changing the rules?

Subject: Re: What about changing the rules?
From: Sara Mitchell <smitchel@xxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 09:36:33 -0800
ui analyst
Well said! This is something that programmers (no slur intended) 
frequently don't understand -- it often times takes as long to
develop a UI, write good documentation and package it as it
does to write the code and make it work. And it works MUCH
better,
at least in terms of the UI and documentation, if the UI analysts 
and writers are involved from the very beginning. 

I speak from experience. I've been a tech writer for fourteen
years
and I have worked on projects from the tail end, from the
beginning, 
and from the middle, both as technical writer and as 'unofficial'
UI
analyst. (I know, the UI professionals are probably shuddering
right
now -- I'm not claiming that I was as good, just all there was at 
the time.) It always works better in terms of quality (as well as
in meeting deadlines) if you start at the beginning, or at least
not
too far into the middle.

And in terms of recruiting people or paying them to do this,
don't
assume that they have to be paid. They might also be interested
in
a piece of ownership and the fun of working on something you
like. 
Personally, I like money (and frequently need it :), but the 
ownership idea is intriguing. 

Andy Dent wrote:
> 
> >I agree with you that the finishing touches are important like documentation
> >and packaging. If the group makes money, we can have people working on this.
> 
> This"finishing touches" attitude is why the user interface and packaging of
> open source software lags so far behind.
> 
> If you want an open source project to be a success then you need to recruit
> from very early days people to write documentation, user interface
> designers etc.
> 
> Learn lessons from shrink-wrap software, don't just demonize the producers.
> A well-rounded package comes out of a team that includes more than just
> programmers.
> 
> If you're truly being inventive about a new form of open-source
> organisation then don't assume just the hard-core programming community
> will be interested.
> 
> good luck
> 
> Andy Dent BSc MACS AACM, Software Designer, A.D. Software, Western Australia
> OOFILE - Database, Reports, Graphs, GUI for c++ on Mac, Unix & Windows
> PP2MFC - PowerPlant->MFC portability
> http://www.oofile.com.au/
> 
>  XSL-List info and archive:  http://www.mulberrytech.com/xsl/xsl-list


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