Comments on: It’s Time To Get Professional: Using Metrics To Select Software And Make Smart Business Decisions

By: Gordon McLean

Gordon McLean — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:35:20 +0000

And I’ll just confirm that Emma gave a great presentation on this at X-Pubs, it was good to get a non-technical approach as well. There are so many factors to a successful CMS implementation (and usage).

Ohh and Emma also knows several dirty jokes… but not as many as Bernard Aschwanden, I had the pleasure of sharing their company at dinner on the Sunday night after the conference.

By: Emma

Emma — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:54:24 +0000

In my field of practice – performance management – the saying goes: “What gets measured, gets done”. By the same token: “What gets measured, gets valued”. Since nobody seems to care which tools a mechanic uses to fix your car – why would it matter which tools you use to fix your documentation challenges? Another saying: “A poor carpenter blames his tools …” I’m one of the ‘industry experts’ speaking at X-Pubs and other conferences, and I constantly repeat the mantra: “CMS: It’s a process, not a product”.

By: Gordon McLean

Gordon McLean — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 19:30:38 +0000

At the recent X-Pubs conference in Reading (England) a lot of the speakers stressed the fact that a tool was not a solution, and that properly understanding the technological requirements, and the requirement to manage changes to working practises, was the most important aspect of embarking on a single source solution.

I’d say the same holds true for any ‘tool’.

Mind you, I think there is a need for more technical writers/authors to gain more business savvy, relating what we do in a business context is a fair more effective way of showing our worth, and quantifiable data is the best method of all.

Metric on!