The easiest way to describe this problem is to simply list the steps
required to recreate it:

1) In Word 2003, ensure that Name is set in Tools, Options, User
Information tab.

2) Create a new document and insert the following field codes in the
order shown below:

{ author }
{ title "test" }

3) Save the document as a template (.dot) file.

4) Change Name in Tools, Options, User Information tab to something
else.

5) Create a new document based upon the template that you saved in step
#3. As you would expect, the Title document property gets set to
"test", author is set to the new name that you set in step #4, and the
field codes are substituted in the document as you would expect.

6) Edit the template file again, and switch the order of the field
codes like shown below, and save it:

{ title "test" }
{ author }

7) Create a new document based upon this template again. This time,
author is set to its old value -- before it had been changed in step #4
-- and it is also substituted that way in the document. It's as if the
setting of the title document property first somehow affected the
setting and retrieval of the author property.

This is a bug, right? The behavior of these field codes shouldn't
depending upon the order that they are defined, should they? I could
understand issues if we were talking about the same document property
being involved in both field code specifications, but these are two
completely different document properties.

Supporting the notion that this is a bug, Word crashed a few times on
me while I was attempting to recreate this. I'm thinking that I
succeeded in confusing Word pretty well!

I wouldn't be surprised to find similar results if I were to experiment
with other document properties, but I haven't attempted to do so.

Does anyone know if this is a documented problem? And although the
scenario is obviously made up, it is actually similar to something I'm
trying to get working in a template. I guess I'll need to be careful
of the order that I used to specify setting vs. merely retrieving
document properties. Does anyone have other ideas, or can someone
confirm this as a bug?

I tried finding more information about it, but I haven't seen anything
on it. Of course, it's a little hard to describe this issue, so I
might just not be searching for information on it very well.