TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Bit by my own department's work. From:Kelly Hoffman <kelly -at- NASHUA -dot- HP -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 8 Apr 1994 09:39:22 EDT
Jim Grey <jwg -at- ACD4 -dot- ACD -dot- COM> writes:
[customer calling Help Desk had question about password; Jim didn't know
the answer]
> So I opened the manual. The manual we wrote.
> It reads: "The parameter password for the supplier-only parameters is
> changing constantly. To obtain the appropriate password, call the ACD Help
> Desk."
> Fortunately, the customer found the situation amusing.
> Lesson learned: When you refer the reader to the Help Desk, make ferdamsure
> that the Help Desk is fully equipped with the information they need.
Excellent advice.
In a previous job, I did my best to keep references to "call Customer Support"
to an absolute minimum. In the few cases where it was unavoidable, I made
copies of the pages that referred to Support, highlighted the relevant areas,
and made sure each support person had a set.
This approach earned me mucho brownie points with the support folk,
(a) because there were so few references, and (b) I told 'em where
all the refs were. Since I needed these folks on my side, every
brownie point was useful.
kkh
Kelly K. Hoffman kelly -at- nashua -dot- hp -dot- com
Learning Products Engineer
Hewlett-Packard, Network Test Division "Reading the manual is
One Tara Blvd., Nashua, NH 03062 admitting defeat."