Acronyms: The Bane of My Existence

The most time consuming (that is, by time spent on each page) aspect of proposal editing is ensuring that errors related to acronym usage are corrected. This involves spelling out terms on first usage, looking up those I don’t know, and flagging the rest for the writers. And IT proposals have loads of acronyms.

A while back I summarized, in writing, guidelines for the writers on one particular proposal that explained how to deal with acronyms as they moved ahead with their writing. I gave the guidelines to the proposal coordinator and suggested that she distribute them to every person working on that proposal. Based on their work, either she didn’t provide the guidelines or the writers ignored them.

I’m working on another proposal that is equally horrendous with regard to acronyms. I didn’t bother to ask her if she provided the guidelines to the current group of writers, but I did suggest to her that from now on, every writer on every proposal should receive my guidelines.

It’s like talking to the wall, against which I feel like banging my head.