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Subject:Measuring Doc. Quality? From:Lori Lathrop <76620 -dot- 456 -at- COMPUSERVE -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 22 Nov 1994 15:43:26 EST
In response to Karen Mayberry (LRSSPFLD!LRS!MAYBERRY -at- LRSMAIL -dot- ATTMAIL -dot- COM),
who asks about measuring documentation quality ...
Karen -- I worked for IBM in Charlotte, NC, for over 12 years and was
involved in quality improvement efforts, including the effort to measure
the quality of our documentation. At that time, I was the lead
instructor for an indexing course through IBM Technical Education, and I
was particularly interested in users' efforts to retrieve information in
documention.
Since then (about 3 years ago), my husband accepted a position in
Colorado, and I have been freelancing as a technical writer, editor, and
indexer. My clients include many corporations as well as publishing
houses throughout the U.S. I also present indexing workshops at client
sites and at various professional conferences throughout the U.S. and
Canada.
Now, with that background information out of the way, my main point is
this: Information is useless unless readers can retrieve it easily.
Another indexer I know says, "If it isn't indexed, it *isn't*."
A *quality* index contains entries for every useful nugget of
information. Quality indexes promote customer satisfaction also reduce
customer calls to Hot Lines and Customer Support. That relates to *real*
cost savings because, when most users call a Hot Line, the information
they need is actually in the documentation but *not* in the index. By
the way, I've heard that calls to Hot Lines cost corporations anywhere
from $75 to $150 per call. So ... when you evaluate the quality of your
documentation, be sure you also evaluate the quality of your indexes.
As a rule of thumb, a quality index for technical documentation should
represent at least 5-8% of the text. That generally corresponds to a
minimum of one double-column index page per twenty pages of text.
Of course, there are many guidelines (which I haven't listed here) for
creating a quality index. If you want more information, please give me a
call or send me an e-mail message.
Lori Lathrop ----------> INTERNET:76620 -dot- 456 -at- compuserve -dot- com
Lathrop Media Services
P.O. Box 808
Georgetown, CO 80444
(303)567-4011
(Author of _An Indexer's Guide to the Internet_ published by the
American Society of Indexers, P.O. Box 386, Port Aransas, TX 78373)
