Practical IP and Telecom for Broadcast Engineering and Operations

9

Establishing and Maintaining Records

How many times have you been asked to help solve a problem or troubleshoot an issue, only to discover minimal or no documentation? Or something less admirable, like the documentation is incorrect or misleading? Fighting a house on fire with a 3/4-inch garden hose instead of a 3-inch fire hose can limit one’s chances of winning. Someone once observed that the difference between craftsmanship and engineering is documentation. Generally, something can’t be crafted very well unless it’s documented. In complex, large-scale networks and systems, the craftsmanship-documentation cycle is an iterative and ongoing process. There’s an initial or draft release used to build up the first working sample. Most times it ...