discuss: Re: Linux USB sub-system Guide
Subject:
Re: LDP: Linux USB sub-system Guide
From:
Emma Jane Hogbin ####@####.####
Date:
20 Apr 2004 04:40:52 -0000
Message-Id: <20040420043847.GW825@smeagol>
On Mon, Apr 19, 2004 at 09:11:03PM -0700, David Lawyer wrote:
> Some docs take a long time to write (since people may be doing this in
> their limited spare time) so I think that you should ask people to check
> in with you (and not the discuss list) say every 3 months to give you a
> progress report. One way to do this is to have a form letter you send
> out after 3 mo. passes and no document has been received for review.
> How long you should allow before a status report should depend on how
> long a doc they are writing.
Authors can either email myself or the discuss list, but it must be done
monthly. If I haven't heard from an author I will send them an email and
ask for for an update. "I've been busy and haven't had a chance to work on
the document" is a completely acceptable update! As is, "I've finished
chapters 2 and 3 and am currently taking research chapter 4." Or whatever...I just
want some sign of human-ness every month. Remember: I'm not saying the
document needs to be finished in a month, I'm just saying I want an email
every month.
It is important to keep the channels of communication open. I don't want
authors to feel isolated while they're writing. I want them to feel
comfortable pinging off an email to someone (a review coordinator or a
list) and saying, "this is harder than I thought!" And in return the
author gets some form of "You're doing great." or "Have you thought about
trying this or that list for ideas?" or whatever.
An author might also want to submit draft versions of the document to the
list for feedback. Or ask for resources for a specific topic, or help with
a scope change, or maybe they want to abandon altogether because of this
or that reason. I don't really care *what* the email says, but I do want
some form of contact once a month.
Round two of this vision is to find mentors for each new author
(preferably topic experts for newbie writers; or English editors for
English as a second language authors). But let's take this one round at a
time. ;)
emma
--
Emma Jane Hogbin
[[ 416 417 2868 ][ www.xtrinsic.com ]]
