Training engineers in tech comm tools is usually about as effective as training tech comms in the software tools the engineers use--that is, it's not generally effective.
I recommend the engineers use whatever tool they're most comfortable with (Word) and you provide a template and train them in use of stylesheets and standards in that application. After the content is written, have your team import it into Fm. For changes, give the engineers a PDF and use Fm's commenting and revision tools to update content. FWIW, this it the way I handle docs for a major corporate airline and a large medical software company. -Matt Matt R. Sullivan co-author Publishing Fundamentals: Unstructured FrameMaker 11 P: 714.798.7596 | C: 714.585.2335 | matt at mattrsullivan.com @mattrsullivan LinkedIn facebook mattrsullivan.com On Oct 7, 2013, at 7:26 AM, Stephen O'Brien <sobrien at innovmetric.com> wrote: > Hi, > > A few mechanical engineers have been asked, as part of their varied workload, > to author certain documents in English (How To, Webinars, software > essentials) in the near future. > > Working with authors who are not formally trained is a new experience for me. > I am wondering how to best define their tasks and the tasks of my technical > writing group who will work together to ensure quality documents. For example: > > ? I could provide the engineers with templates in FrameMaker and an > introduction to the basics of technical writing and English grammar and bring > them to write good documents over time. Some formal training in technical > writing could be offered. The technical writers would then review the final > documents (container and content) to ensure the overall quality of the > documents. > > ? Or, maybe the role of the engineers should be to write rough > content within guidelines (get the ideas and workflows on paper), and my team > of technical writers could be responsible for formatting the content and > expressing their ideas/workflows correctly in English. This would take much > less time for the engineer (less of a learning curve). > > Do you have some experience in this matter? Any hints for what may work best? > > Many thanks. > > Here in Quebec City, Canada autumn is in full color. Mother Nature at her > very best. > > > Stephen O'BRIEN > Coordonnateur ? la documentation et r?dacteur technique senior | > Documentation Coordinator and Senior Technical Writer > InnovMetric Logiciels | Software > sobrien at innovmetric.com > T (1) 418.688.2061 > F (1) 418.688.3001 > > <image001.jpg> <image002.jpg> <image003.jpg> <image004.jpg> <image005.jpg> > > AVIS DE CONFIDENTIALIT?/CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: Ce message peut contenir des > renseignements confidentiels appartenant exclusivement ? InnovMetric > Logiciels inc. ou ? ses filiales. Si vous n??tes pas le destinataire indiqu? > dans ce message (ou responsable de livrer ce message ? la personne indiqu?e > ou pr?vue) ou si vous pensez que ce message vous a ?t? adress? par erreur, > vous ne pouvez pas utiliser ou reproduire ce message, ni le livrer ? > quelqu?un d?autre. Dans ce cas, veuillez le retourner ? l?exp?diteur et le > d?truire. 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