Mar 11
2
My First City Council Meeting
Monday night our television time was interrupted by a neighbor on a mission. The unthinkable has happened-McDonalds is building a restaurant right behind our neighborhood.
Now personally, I don’t have anything against McDonalds. I partake of their breakfast burritos on a far-too-often basis, and the prospects of being able to walk over on Saturday morning and snag one was actually somewhat appealing.
But then again, it’s not right behind my house. Mrs. Neighborlady is much closer to Ground Zero and she was not going to take this sitting down. She had a petition in hand and we dutifully signed it, pledging to do whatever we could to help with the cause.
Then yesterday night we were alerted to the fact that there was a City Council meeting this morning. It was IMPERATIVE that we have as many people there as possible to confront the menace of Ronald Mc and his gang of thugs.
I had mentally rehearsed what I was going to say on the drive to City Hall. Unfortunately nobody told me that in order to address the Council you have to sign up prior to the meeting’s start. So I was there to lend my unmatched moral support. Four neighbors stood up and pleaded their case to the suitably sympathetic politicos in attendance.
In the end, I suspect that we’ll all be smelling happy meals within a couple of months, but at least maybe we can get a substantial wall built to separate the depravity of McDonalds from our neighborhood. I just hope that if they build a wall there’s a door in it so I don’t have to walk all the way around to get my breakfast burritos.
Mar 11
2
How Much Will It Cost?
I get frequent phone calls from prospective clients who are interested in getting a manual written for their project. In a lot of cases, the individual making the call is new to the entire technical writing process. Many times they will ask “What will a manual cost?”
One of my mentors responded to this question with another question. He would say “Well, imagine that I’m holding a box. You don’t know what’s in the box, but I ask you how much you would pay for the box. What would you say?”
His point was that unless you know what’s in the box, any answer you give would be pure speculation. And without knowing more details about a technical writing project, it is impossible to provide even a “ballpark” number for pricing. There are a lot of variables that will affect the price:
- Who is the audience?
- What kind of source data is available?
- What kind of illustrations do you want?
- What’s the schedule?
- Is the design complete?
- Is there a specification or style guide to comply with?
- Do you have a standard format that your company uses?
And there are many more, but you get my point. Allard is happy to provide free quotes for our services, but it takes some time and work to calculate the impact of all these variables and establish a price.
So if you call in and ask “How much will it cost?” be prepared to tell me what you’ll pay for the box.
“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” – Proverbs 16.3