You're the "Smart Guy"—Let your computer format your procedures!

by Elliott Lander

Computers are dumb.very dumb. They still wait on us to make decisions for them! On the other hand, they are very useful for certain functions that humans don't do very well, or at least, don't like to do (unless you are king-nerd and have nothing better to do!)

In procedure writing world, most writers are laboring over formatting documents and making them conform to the big book of rules (Writer's Guide). Subject matter experts (SMEs), while experts in plant operations, typically never attended University of Microsoft Word. More often than not, our friends have to spend much of their time formatting and proofreading.

What's the answer? Well. get the computers to do the formatting and the bulk of the proofreading, while letting the plant experts focus on creating quality content. Electronic XML procedures, such as SmartProcedures (www.smartprocedures.com), provide tools that reduce formatting by up to 75% with powerful analyzer tools that eliminate laborious proofreading.

Companies spend an enormous amount of valuable resources and money on formatting. For a facility employing 5 full-time writers, this extra time could cost upwards of $150,000 annually.

When we frustrate writers with the drudgery of formatting and low-level proofreading, it degrades their vigilance and attention to detail.

If quality content and useful procedures are your goals, then take a look at delegating low-level procedure writing stuff to the computers.