While reading chapter 14, I was reminded of a former supervisor who would have dramatically improved his editing skills by simply reading chapter 14. I will never forget submitting a draft for his review five times before he approved it, and the final form was almost an exact word for word replica of the first draft. His style was to focus on form over function to the extreme one time, then purpose exclusive of form or function, then he might focus on mechanics, and then finally looking at the overall goal. This was a very frustrating, time consuming, and counter-productive process. If he developed a reader-centric focus instead of his ego-centric focus, everybody would have benefited. I'm glad we've had the opportunity to study this methodology and process before we become like that supervisor.
In chapter 15, I am sharply reminded of a technology course completed in a prior term. We developed web pages and we were required to conduct user surveys of our sites. Many of the same processes and techniques described in the chapter were useful in determining how users perceived our sites. There are many other examples where these testing techniques are effective. I have participated in at least two more that immediately come to mind - product research testing and mock juries. Both were controlled environments with specific test procedures and rules. I find it more than a little interesting that good planning, processes and procedures can translate well to almost any enterprise.
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