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Leanne Sanderson reports: <<I've been asked to create user documentation for
a client's existing custom application... with the understanding that they
will be moving from this stand-alone desktop application to a web
application in the next 18 months.>>
And John Posada replies: "Ok, there's nothing wrong with this. In fact, I
was hired at BN precisely for this purpose.[...T]hey needed to know what
they had. That's where I came in. I created a design document of about 700
pages. This is called an "As Built" document. It's a real document type of
real value."
I agree that there's great value in an As Built document, but I would be
nervous about trying to build one doc that serves the needs of both the end
users and the product managers.
Like John says, it's a design doc. It has a different purpose, and therefore
a different scope and different content. I could see either document being
useful in creating the other, but I think expecting one to meet both needs
is a bit like those cellphone/PDA/pager/camera things -- the more needs they
try to meet, the less successful they are in meeting any one of those needs.
(Is there a better way of saying that? Please post any clever analogies.)
Having said that, the client might not be interested in investing in both,
so as long as Leanne manages her client's expectations accordingly, she
should be fine!
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