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> 4. How does it work (or how does it do what it is supposed to do)?
Carma <ccallen -at- beckman -dot- com> responded:
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 users really, really need to know.
bryan.westbrook wrote:
>It may not always be essential to include the how in your documentation,
but
>it is essential for the writer to know how.
But the "how" that the writer needs to know depends - fundamentally
depends - on the "how" that the user needs to know.
I have worked on software that had to do with phone networks in three
different areas: games software, billing software, and network software. All
three required that I learn how phone networks work. But the technical "how"
of "how phone networks work" was entirely different for billing software and
for games software (though with a small amount of overlap) and radically
different again for network software: not because the phone networks had
changed, but because what the user needed to know had changed. And
therefore, what *I* needed to know was different for each project.
If I am writing instructions on how to program the VCR or how to use
voicemail on a phone, I don't *need* to know how the VCR works or how the
phone works. (Though I maintain that the more you learn, the better. But
then I enjoy information, the more arcane and useless the better... <g>) I
*do* need to know how the user will use that item of equipment or this piece
of software.
Jane Carnall
Technical Writer and Compendium
of Arcane and Useless Information
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