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ProposalsWe begin projects by signing a nondisclosure agreement prior to discussing details of your technology or needs. If the scope of work is well defined, we can give you a fixed-price proposal. The proposal includes a scope-of-work description, delivery schedule, payment schedule, and other terms. The schedule includes dates when we deliver each review draft, plus dates when you return your review comments. You can count on us to meet our part of the schedule. Project OrganizationProjects typically begin with a meeting and assembly of background documents. We then develop a working outline that forms the basis for subsequent work.
The timeline above represents a typical project. Our working time appears in red. Your review time appears in green. The sum of the red areas represents our total working time. The entire width of the timeline represents the project's total elapsed time. Draft 1 usually occupies the large majority of time and work—sometimes as much as 95% of the total. The remaining drafts can usually be completed quickly after return of Draft 1 comments. Information SourcesMost of our source information comes from your design specifications, interviews with your product designers, our existing knowledge of your technology, competitive or prior-art documents, and, if applicable, use of your product. We normally begin with background reading of your design specifications and competitive or prior-art documents. During this reading, we generate notes that form the basis for interviews and the beginning of our writing. We conduct interviews with your product designers and marketing staff. The interviews can be conducted on-site or by email or telephone. We follow up initial interviews with questions by email and telephone. If possible, we use your product. This is the best way for us to see how it works and how your customers experience it. WritingWhen we understand your product and your customers' needs, we begin organizing, writing, and illustrating. During the writing, we focus on clear organization, accuracy, and completeness. We write using simple sentences with industry-standard terms, so that readers who have learned English as a second language can understand it quickly. We create tables comparing data, cross-references, and indexes that help readers random-access the content quickly. And we observe laws protecting trademarks and copyrights. We use the most robust, cross-platform software tools for writing, illustration, and page layout, such as FrameMaker®, Word, Illustrator®, Photoshop™, and Visio®. These tools, and the file formats they export, are widely used throughout industry. After we write, we edit to improve clarity and reading speed. During editing, we check the consistency with which concepts, names, and diagrammatic elements are used, and the completeness with which the technical aspects of the subject are covered. After our edits, we deliver Draft 1 for your review. ReviewsWe typically prepare two review drafts—Draft 1 and Draft 2—before delivering the final document. All review drafts are fully formatted. You can show them to your customers, if you wish. When we receive your comments on Draft 1, we incorporate them and deliver Draft 2. Likewise, we incorporate your Draft 2 comments and deliver the final document, in a format suitable for your needs. We can create PDF, HTML, hardcopy (camera-ready), online Help, and other formats. Document OwnershipYour company owns the technical documents we write for you. We declare this in our contract with you and in a copyright notice on the cover of each document that we write for you. We give you a complete set of computer files for the documentation at the end of the project.
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