RE: Interview what Interview? (WAS: Capturing info during meeting s with SMEs)

["Eric J. Ray" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com>]

On Thu, 5 Jun 2003, Goober Writer wrote:

GW >Well, I wouldn't call what I do "interviewing". Here's
GW >my scenario:

Good stuff snipped.

GW >I don't go to them for answers, because most times
GW >they simply don't have them, or they're not the
GW >answers I need. I simply get some hints that'll help
GW >me continue to plow on through the product.
GW >
GW >I become intimate with the product, as only I (the
GW >tech writer) can determine what the true answers are
GW >to communicate to the users. All dev can tell me is
GW >what they did and how the thing works, which may or
GW >may not be helpful.

Absolutely! As a matter of fact, in my environment
(as well as in my experience at other places),
developers usually _thoroughly_ understand their
particular niche, and how their niche relates to
the adjacent niches, but often don't have the big
picture of the product or how it's used (or
how marketing thinks it's used, or how marketing
thinks it should be used, or ...)

Part of the value I add is providing the big picture
and user perspective...and throwing away an
awful lot of "how this product works" information that's
irrelevant to our users' needs.

Eric


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