Campbell Chapter 9

This chapter talks about notifying users of the implemenation of policies and procedures. Notification can be done in writing, in person, or by e-mail. All of these choices have their own pros and cons.

As the book states:

Written notices are the best when audience is very large.

Personal notices are best when the subject is sensitive to users.

E-mail is best of the new policy is online.

The thing that stood out for me was how Campbell said that Managers need to be notified first. I find that to hold very true. Without notifying management first, many problems could arise:

1. With a written notice, the manager might be asked about the policy before they have even had a chance to read it.

2. Personal notices could be a problem if the management acts surprised or upset about the policy/procedure.

3. E-mail would also be bad because if an employee has a question, they are more likely to send an e-mail to their manager - and the manager might not have any other information to answer their questions.

Barker Chapter 6

In Chapter 6 of the Barker book, we read about "Planning and Writing your Documents." Chapter 6 talks about Development teams, Writing teams, and a lot of task management. Like usual, this chapter combined a lot of common sense methods with actual ways to carry it out. I found the "Documentation Plan" section from page 207 to be very interesting. Barker says that you can carry out all of your ideas by "the power of your personality, your charismatic leadership, your gift for higher math, and your financial savvy." Or, Barker says, you can use management plans as your "genious." As long as you have a reason for your documentation plans and you set aside clear tasks for everybody - your plans will work just fine. To me, Barker is saying that even though some people may have more charisma or personality, they might not be the best at planning these processes. Form a plan and stick to it - and it will all come together in the end.