B2B vs B2C software doc planning (Was: Too much structure)

["Giordano, Connie" <Connie -dot- Giordano -at- FMR -dot- COM>]

Jim,

Useful information for software products intended for general use, but how
much would apply to B2B custom software?

For instance, I don't have a "Late Majority" audience in the same sense.  I
have an audience made up of beta users, power users, "typical" users, and
technophobes who all have one thing in common--they're going to be using the
software whether they like it or not.  

As for a budget-hah!  I have a great boss who backs me up to purchase tools,
but other than that, what budget?

Love to get some feedback from other B2B software TWs.

Connie Giordano

-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Shaeffer [mailto:jims -at- spsi -dot- com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2000 11:03 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Too much structure



JoAnn Hackos, at the recent STC conference, appied Moore's book _Crossing
the Chasm_, to software documentation. One idea was that the budget for
documentation and help projects should start out small (when the product is
new) and increase as the product matures, reaching its maximum about the
time the product is stable enough and complete enough to appeal to a mass
market that needs lots of security, guidance and hand-holding. 
The early adopters aren't going to use the Help file that much, anyway. They
like to play and discover how things work. (Also, the early adopters can put
up with a lot of doubt and uncertainty because they see themselves getting
lots of bang for the buck.) The users who really need the complete
documnentation set with lots guidance are the Late Majority, who value
stability and ease of use. 
The slides from her presentation are on the Web at
www.infomanagementcenter.com, but this idea is not illustrated on the
slides.

Jim Shaeffer
jims -at- spsi -dot- com