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If your product is seeing a beta cycle with real-world testing by customers who have agreed to review it, work to get the documentation review process into the beta script and the beta review. We are working on this right now.
The idea is that users who are actually using the product under "field" conditions are mainly using the docs when something is in crisis, and therefore they aren't interested in sending you feedback - they just want to fix whatever's broken. The rest of the time they're too busy putting out other fires to bother with (or even remember) your documentation problems. Sure they might hate your doc for the ten minutes they spend trying to find out that "hidden" bit of info, but once they've found it, they don't care anymore.
However, beta testers are already interested in providing feedback about how the "upcoming" version of the product works/doesn't work. Adding a short doc review section to the feedback they've already agreed to provide as part of the beta program isn't adding much of a burden, and they're already right there reviewing the product, so it's not something they'll "forget."
I don't expect this to solve all out documentation feedback problems, but I'm hopeful that it will increase the feedback from "almost none" to "some usable amount."
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: bounce-techwr-l-129804 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
[mailto:bounce-techwr-l-129804 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com]On Behalf Of
MList -at- chrysalis-its -dot- com
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 10:48 AM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: Survey says...
All,
Is anyone aware of a Customer Survey that returns valuable information
about the effectiveness and usefulness of product documentation (Install
Guides, User Manuals, on-line help and documentation), that does not
involve the presence of the writer?
I may be biased but...
My impression is that forms that are included with documentation
don't get returned, even if postage is provided.
My impression is that forms that are given to Sales people don't
get used on the right customer personnel (i.e., the sales rep talks
to executives or to somebody in purchasing, and not to the engineers
or techs who might have actually used our product in the field).
My impression is that forms that are given to Customer Support are
not enjoyed by customers who just want a problem fixed and please
stop bugging me with your questions about documents, I'm in a hurry!!
My impression is that "Comment About our User Documentation" forms
on the company web-site don't return a lot of valuable info.
If there is no budget (of money or time) for the writer to track
down actual customer users of the product, to ask them about
their experience with his/her magnificent documents, then what
method is used by those of you who experience worthwhile results
from whatever kind of customer surveys you do?
I've been Googling on the topic, but all I've seen so far have
been various companies' "Please, please, please talk to us" web
survey forms, and some sites that want to sell seminars about
surveying customers... or services to outsource the surveying.
Not a lot of hits on how small companies survey their product
end-users without big budgets and without incentives to offer
other than "the docs'll be better next time; no I don't have any
give-away toys for you".
/kevin (who has been ambushed by Hackos accolytes and needs to fill
in something in the "Testing" and "Evaluation" sections of
his vast and impressive new planning and process document)
(not to be distinguished from /kevin who is a lone writer...)
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