RE: Why not do it ourselves? (Was: using 3rd-party books)

["Carey Jennifer (Cry)" <jennifer -dot- carey -at- cdi -dot- cerberus -dot- ch>]

	<<Writing "funny" is hard. Most writers can't do it at all, and
hardly any
	can do it well all the time. It's not a skillset most tech writers
have
	tried to develop (nor should they, for most gigs).>>

I definately agree with that comment.  But, I'm afraid that I wasn't clear
in my first email. I'm not really so much interested in the question of
voice and writing style so much as with the larger concept of what the
manual contain and how the material is presented. 

	<<As stated in previous responses, most "normal" documentation teams
simply
	don't have the time and/or resources to produce that level and
quantity of
	documentation.>>

	This may sound ignorant, but WHY does writing in this way require
much more time or resources?  Couldn't it just be a matter of rethinking how
we are presenting our work? We still have to do the same research...the
biggest challenge I see is understanding what the user would *really* be
trying to do and writing to difficulties he would actually run into. But,
not having actually done this type of manual, it seems that it would just be
a matter of approach during the learning process.  

	But, in the end, I think my first question is: 

		"Would this type of manual be better than a traditional
one?"

	And then I would ask if it were be feasible.  So far, I haven't
heard anyone say that it "shouldn't" be done, only that it could be
unrealistically challenging. Is that right?





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