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As I discovered, it's only after your customers respect the documentation
will you get any feedback (other than overhearing them say it sucks). Prior
to my arrival at one company, the former tech writer bragged that he could
complete 11 pages an hour. What he was really doing was reformatting drivel
turned in by the engineering staff and dumping it out as a complete manual.
Nobody reviewed anything. In some instances, they even had the customer
write the user guides. Needless to say, even the company's service staff
wouldn't use the material, opting instead to write their own manuals. So, I
was faced with 12 years of garbage from the former tech writer, three sets
of manuals for each product (one from the tech writer, one from service, and
one from training) and a customer base that view our documentation as
somewhere between compost and fire starter. It took me nearly five years to
straighten things out. I didn't have a customer comment sheet, because I
personally kept in contact with end users (we served a small niche market
making this somewhat easier). However, the key is to address those customer
suggestions and ensure they get a copy of the changes/updates/corrections.
Show them that you respect their input and you'll expand your technical
review staff tremendously while improving the quality of the product. If
you're lucky, you may even get customer service and training to use your
manuals instead of creating a set of their own.
Al Geist-Geist Arts, LLC
Fine Art Photography - Exceptional Note Cards
Mobile: 231-301-5770
E-mail: al -at- geistarts -dot- com
Website: www.geistarts.com
Blog: www.gooterscheltz.com
Facebook: Geist Arts
See Also:
Technical Communication, Help, Documentation Management
?We can?t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used to
create them." (Albert Einstein)
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