Andrew Plato's Golden Questions (was: Benchmarking Technical Docu mentation)

[bryan -dot- westbrook -at- amd -dot- com]

It may not always be essential to include the how in your documentation, but
it is essential for the writer to know how.

-----Original Message-----
From: ccallen -at- beckman -dot- com [mailto:ccallen -at- beckman -dot- com]
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 4:37 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: Benchmarking Technical Documentation

> Andrew Plato wrote:
> 4. How does it work (or how does it do what it is supposed to do)?

The first three (and maybe the fifth) are relevant, but can easily be
covered in a few paragraphs in the intro or description section. How it
works is seldom of interest to the user (do I care how my telephone or VCR
works? no). But the most important question isn't even mentioned--HOW DO I
USE IT? That's what user's really, really need to know.


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