Re: Writing a product functional spec AFTER the product is built

[Tara English-Sweeney <tens00 -at- gmail -dot- com>]

Thank you Bill. I agree wholeheartedly about the quirkiness of writing this
after the product is built. However, we all know that sometimes we have to
do what we are asked and what is needed. The direction of what is needed
came straight from sales and our team of product managers. There were
earlier attempts at this document so there are very clear expectations as to
what they want. I had a different vision of this document but our sales team
expects what they are used to and I'm relatively new to the company. I
tried. Thank you for your feedback!

On Sun, Jun 27, 2010 at 11:07 PM, Bill Swallow <techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com>wrote:

> > Hello. I am wondering how often technical writers have been asked to
> write a
> > product functional specification after a product has been built. I have
> been
> > working feverishly on one. The goal is for it to be used as a sales tool
> and
> > even more importantly, to ensure that customers have a clear definition
> of
> > the the features and functions (via use cases) so there is no
> > misinterpretation.
>
> You want to research 'reference guide'. After the product is built is
> far too late for a functional specification. That should have been
> written in draft form well before any actual product code was written,
> and evolved as changes were made to the functional design of the
> product.
>
> You may want to talk to sales about just what they need, as well.
> Though giving customers a clear definition of the features and
> functions is important, this is different from a technical sales
> document, and very different from a functional specification (which
> would normally contain highly proprietary information).
>
> --
> Bill Swallow
>
> Twitter: @techcommdood
> Blog: http://techcommdood.com
> LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/techcommdood
>
> Available for contract and full time opportunities.
>
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