Sometimes it’s as simple as adding the version number to the file name, rather than inserting an explicit document control section within the document, and it takes seconds to do. That doesn’t mean I use a formal template for every document. it’s not just purely for personal use), I will version control it as a matter of course. If I think I am likely to share a document with others (i.e.
Oh, hang, on, I have a few extra thoughts. The only downside is that you run into trouble after 26 drafts! Drafts are associated with the final version they are working towards.Final/approved versions are clearly labeled as such.Issue 2 Draft A – first draft of a change to Issue 1 Final (working towards Issue 2).Issue 1 Final (or, alternatively, Issue 1 Approved) – signed off/approved version.I discovered it on a project I worked on a few years back and I’ve tried to introduce it everywhere I’ve been since then. But there is an alternative that I do like. So I don’t like this version numbering scheme.
So, for example, version 1.3 is supposed to be a draft working towards version 2.0, but to my mind the “1” associates it more with version 1.0 than version 2.0. In order to be sure, I have to open the document and check the version history, and even then, authors are sometimes not rigorous enough to state explicitly whether the document amendment is signed off or not.Īnd even if you have a clearly stated convention that says an approved document must be “something dot zero”, I don’t like the way that the numbers stack up.
But at this point it’s never clear (to me at least) whether version 1.1 is a draft for approval or an approved update to version 1.1. So version 1.0 gets updated to version 1.1, and maybe version 1.2, and so on. But inevitably (and increasingly in an agile world where change is to be encouraged, nay embraced)… things change, and version 1.0 needs to be revised. Now that’s all well and good up to that point. Most people tend to use the following version numbering scheme: Document version numbers might seem like a trivial concept – a subject upon which there is little to be said – but they are a real bug bear for me. So here’s a topic that you don’t see discussed very often.