Re: When Worlds Collide: McConnell meets Hacko

[Janice Gelb <janiceg -at- marvin -dot- eng -dot- sun -dot- com>]

In article ORG -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com, droberts63 -at- earthlink -dot- net (dan roberts) writes:
> 
> McConnell advises that, although doc development extends through the
> development life-cycle, the bulk of user doc can be completed in the
> early stages of the SW development cycle, pretty much after the SW
> prototype is completed. The user doc serves not only as end-user doc
> but also as a detailed functional spec used during the SW architecture,
> development, and QA phases.
> 
> Hackos contends that the initial phases of doc development should be
> evoted to analysis and planning, including a detailed doc plan--but
> little in the way of writing information that the end-user will
> ultimately see.
> 

My immediate response is colored by the fact that I 
have mainly worked in large organizations. That said, 
my feeling is that if they want someone to write a 
functional spec, they should hire or assign someone 
to do that. Obviously, the spec needs to be written 
early because so many groups depend on it to do 
their own jobs, and the engineers themselves should 
have it to write the code against.

However, specs are not user's guides. The reason Hackos 
recommends that writers not write detailed information 
for the end user in early stages of the project is that 
nearly all of it will have to be rewritten as the 
product changes. 


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