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> We can make certain assumptions about our users, and then we can revisit
> those assumptions later if circumstances dictate. Or we can write
> enormously more complex documentation, with conditional text tied to the
> configuration options set in the application, if we're willing to spend
> the time and money it takes to do that.
>
> But what we cannot do, for most products, is know with any degree of
> certainty who the audience is going to turn out to be, at least not
> before the product is on the market for a while.
This is a fallacy. It's true that as product documentation people we
can't predict who the audience is going to be, but *someone* in your
company, can, or should be doing it before development of your product
ever begins. Most everything you buy in your daily life, from soft
drinks to SUs, is based on forecasts that predict with darned good
accuracy who the paying customers are going to be. One of the reasons
why SW and other tech often is such a roller coaster is that so many of
the companies making the products don't do the same thing for their
products that Coca-Cola and Toyota do - figure out who's going to want
to buy a product and how many of them there will be *before* signing
on the dotted line to authorize development.
To give you a real-world example, in the past 5-6 years I've worked with
two companies in pretty much the same field. Company A has a target
market, develops product, docs, training and support for that market,
and for anyone outside of the target market group, the response to
inquiries is a scripted "that feature and function is not supported
in the standard release, but our Product Support division can give
you a quote for a custom app/document/training." Untargeted buyers
are a revenue opportunity, or they are on their own. By contrast,
Company B started development on new products because "nobody
else is doing this," and with no definition of a target market, the
product support staff were overwhelmed trying to develop docs,
service scenarios and training for every possible user, despite the
fact there was no evidence that any of those users would ever be there
(and they often weren't). Company A had a rough patch during the
worst of the recession, but is coming back and hiring. Company B
hasn't introduced a successful product in almost 3 years, and is
continues to shed employees every quarter.
High Tech marketing is no different from any other kind. First, you
have to *do* it.
Gene Kim-Eng
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