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Process Management advise, please



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 2nd, 2004, 10:18 PM
jg70124
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Process Management advise, please

I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book
made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created
the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and
spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using styles
(we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was never
able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few
minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration.

Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing
consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing
material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor,
consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know
styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or
about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields.

So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for
instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I
inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous
paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like
they want.

As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more
difficult.

Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations
throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting
crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with
error codes and grey boxes.

The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will
reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care about
styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we want
it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in plain
text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we
want that one formatted.

Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use
it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations. (For
instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago).

So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can
give.

Thanks,
jeremy


  #2  
Old November 2nd, 2004, 11:35 PM
Suzanne S. Barnhill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I'm afraid I don't have any advice to offer, but you have my deepest
sympathy. The situation you describe [which is certainly not uncommon] is
why I try to limit my work to situations where I have control over the final
version and can provide camera-ready copy.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"jg70124" wrote in message
...
I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book
made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created
the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and
spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using

styles
(we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was

never
able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few
minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration.

Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing
consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing

existing
material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor,
consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even

know
styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or
about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields.

So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for
instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I
inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous
paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like
they want.

As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more
difficult.

Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations
throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting
crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with
error codes and grey boxes.

The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will
reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care

about
styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we

want
it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in

plain
text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we
want that one formatted.

Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use
it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations.

(For
instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago).

So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can
give.

Thanks,
jeremy



  #3  
Old November 3rd, 2004, 01:23 AM
Jezebel
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Reminds me of the famous advice to sailors caught in a storm on a lee
sho rule 1 -- do not let yourself get caught in this situation.

About all that's to be done is circulate a memo to the effect that the other
participants are contributing *content*, and when they've finished doing so
you (or somebody) will be creating the camera-ready version, as a separate,
final exercise. If the publishers are paying for it, let them know that the
cost of that final exercise is partly a function of how those other
participants do their work. Even if the consultants don't understand styles,
the publisher probably does -- most publishing houses have style guides of
some sort or another. Not quite the same thing, but close enough that
they'll know what you mean if you say the consultant isn't following your
style conventions.

For a 2000 page book, this is a lot of work you're looking at!






"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I'm afraid I don't have any advice to offer, but you have my deepest
sympathy. The situation you describe [which is certainly not uncommon] is
why I try to limit my work to situations where I have control over the

final
version and can provide camera-ready copy.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup

so
all may benefit.

"jg70124" wrote in message
...
I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book
made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he

created
the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns,

and
spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using

styles
(we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was

never
able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few
minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration.

Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing
consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing

existing
material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor,
consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even

know
styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or
about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields.

So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for
instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I
inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the

previous
paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like
they want.

As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more
difficult.

Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations
throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are

getting
crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with
error codes and grey boxes.

The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher

will
reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care

about
styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we

want
it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in

plain
text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we
want that one formatted.

Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to

use
it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations.

(For
instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days

ago).

So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people

can
give.

Thanks,
jeremy





  #4  
Old November 3rd, 2004, 03:38 AM
Bob Mathews
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

On 2-Nov-2004, "jg70124" wrote:

Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create
equations throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?)
the equations are getting crushed; when the documents come
back to me, they've been replaced with error codes and grey
boxes.


I don't have any solution to offer for the other problems you
mentioned, but with regard to Equation Editor, the formats on the
PC and the Mac aren't compatible with each other. Everyone
involved in the process (whether they edit the equations or not)
should be using either the full version (i.e., the paid version)
of MathType, or the 30-day trial. The 30-day trial will be
full-featured for 30 days, after which it becomes a less-featured
"MathType Lite". MathType Lite will continue to be able to edit
equations created in either the full version of MathType, or
Equation Editor, on either platform.
--
Bob Mathews
Director of Training 830-990-9699
http://www.dessci.com/free.asp?free=news
FREE fully-functional 30-day evaluation of MathType 5
Design Science, Inc. -- "How Science Communicates"
MathType, WebEQ, MathPlayer, MathFlow, Equation Editor, TeXaide
  #5  
Old November 3rd, 2004, 09:56 AM
Jonathan West
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

With regard to trying to persuade the other authors to use styles, this
article might help you

Creating Custom Toolbars for Templates
http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/P...cle.asp?ID=262

Once you have created a Styles toolbar in the way described in the article,
point out to theother authors that clicking on the appropriate button is
quicker & easier than doing manual formatting.


--
Regards
Jonathan West - Word MVP
www.intelligentdocuments.co.uk
Please reply to the newsgroup

"jg70124" wrote in message
...
I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book
made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created
the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and
spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using
styles
(we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was
never
able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few
minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration.

Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing
consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing
existing
material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor,
consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even
know
styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or
about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields.

So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for
instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I
inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous
paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like
they want.

As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more
difficult.

Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations
throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting
crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with
error codes and grey boxes.

The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will
reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care
about
styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we
want
it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in
plain
text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we
want that one formatted.

Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use
it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations.
(For
instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago).

So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can
give.

Thanks,
jeremy



  #6  
Old November 3rd, 2004, 10:28 AM
Robert M. Franz
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Hi Jeremy

jg70124 wrote:
[..]
Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing
consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing existing
material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor,
consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even know
styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or
about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields.


I have yet to test this thoroughly in real-life projects, but the new
protection-features of Word 2003 Prof. might be worth investigating in
your situation.

2cents
..bob
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS
\ / | MVP
X Against HTML | for
/ \ in e-mail & news | Word
  #7  
Old November 3rd, 2004, 02:34 PM
Barb Reinhardt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Having had the same problem with styles and captioning, I'd love to hear the
suggestions of other users as well. I've heard "you changed A, B, and C"
more than once when in fact the other user deleted something in the doc that
changed all the caption numbering (or references).

"jg70124" wrote in message
...
I have been working with a university professor on a marketing text book
made up of 20 chapters, each about 100 pages long. Originally, he created
the entire thing on his Mac using character formatting, hard returns, and
spaces instead of tabs. I spent a couple of weeks reformatting using

styles
(we have about 30 styles to cover all the situations). Although I was

never
able to teach him to use styles, it was ok, because it only took a few
minutes for me to reformat his changes after each iteration.

Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing
consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing

existing
material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor,
consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even

know
styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or
about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields.

So when one of these new people wants to change a figure number, for
instance, they delete the caption including the figure number field I
inserted, and type in a new line, using whatever style was in the previous
paragraph. Then they manually reformat the caption to make it look like
they want.

As a result, the process of managing the formats has become much more
difficult.

Additionally, I've used Word's equation editor to create equations
throughout the text, but somewhere (at the Mac?) the equations are getting
crushed; when the documents come back to me, they've been replaced with
error codes and grey boxes.

The final product must be more or less "camera ready" - the publisher will
reset the text using something other than Word, and so they don't care

about
styles, formats, or any of that. They just want it to look like how we

want
it. In fact, they would be happier if we just did the whole thing in

plain
text, and used ASCII codes at the beginning of each 'graph to say how we
want that one formatted.

Given how complex Word is, and how few people really understand how to use
it, my guess is that other people here have faced similar situations.

(For
instance, Sandra Jensen has posted a similar request just a few days ago).

So I would very much appreciated any process management advise people can
give.

Thanks,
jeremy




  #8  
Old November 3rd, 2004, 03:52 PM
Suzanne S. Barnhill
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I think these features may work properly only if all the other contributors
also have Word 2003.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

"Robert M. Franz" wrote in message
...
Hi Jeremy

jg70124 wrote:
[..]
Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a marketing
consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing

existing
material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor,
consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even

know
styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word, or
about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields.


I have yet to test this thoroughly in real-life projects, but the new
protection-features of Word 2003 Prof. might be worth investigating in
your situation.

2cents
.bob
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS
\ / | MVP
X Against HTML | for
/ \ in e-mail & news | Word


  #9  
Old November 3rd, 2004, 04:43 PM
Robert M. Franz
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Suzanne S. Barnhill wrote:
I think these features may work properly only if all the other contributors
also have Word 2003.


That's what I read as well, yes.

..bob
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS
\ / | MVP
X Against HTML | for
/ \ in e-mail & news | Word
  #10  
Old November 4th, 2004, 03:53 PM
Barb Reinhardt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

Suzanne, that assumes that the other contributors are willing to use the
features. I've worked on a document with one other individual and it's
been a nightmare because he hasn't used the additional features.

"Suzanne S. Barnhill" wrote in message
...
I think these features may work properly only if all the other

contributors
also have Word 2003.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup

so
all may benefit.

"Robert M. Franz" wrote in message
...
Hi Jeremy

jg70124 wrote:
[..]
Now, however, the publisher has hired a freelance editor and a

marketing
consultant, both of whom are contributing new material and editing

existing
material. Strangely, none of these new users (publisher, editor,
consultant) understands styles - in fact, it turns out they don't even

know
styles exist. Nor do they know about the collaboration aids in Word,

or
about bullets, or about automatic caption, or self-updating fields.


I have yet to test this thoroughly in real-life projects, but the new
protection-features of Word 2003 Prof. might be worth investigating in
your situation.

2cents
.bob
--
/"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign | MS
\ / | MVP
X Against HTML | for
/ \ in e-mail & news | Word




 




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