Do you do QA?

[Steve Shewchuk <sshewchu -at- IGOR -dot- UWI -dot- BC -dot- CA>]

Karen said:

>My coworker and I were recently informed that we were expected to perform QA
>functions in addition to our writing responsibilities, and that QA engineers
>would also be responsible for writing end-user documentation. In our combined
>25+ years of experience, we have never been asked to do such a thing. We do not
>have the training to do real QA testing.

I say:

Well, my company develops software.  As a natural extension of learning to
use that software so that I can document it, yes, I do QA.  I also talk to
the programmers about other issues involved in the production of the
software:  ease of use, functionality, aesthetics, language, etc.

One of my co-workers said something to me once that made a lot of sense:
"If its really hard to document, there's probably something wrong with the
way its set up in the first place."  Seems to be a fairly reasonable
assumption, given that we're striving to make software that is both
functional and easy to use.

But then, this is a smallish company, and there can be a fair bit of
overlap in jobs at times.  My first week or two here were spent doing QA
and other duties, mostly because I couldn't write about the product until I
had learned how to use it.

In general, assuming I have time, I'm happy to do QA.  Sterling
documentation isn't much good if the product lacks something, because in
the end it's the product that's evaluated by the user.

--------------
Steve Shewchuk
Technical Writer

UWI Unisoft Wares Incorporated
Tel: (604)479-8334
email: sshewchu -at- mailhost -dot- uwi -dot- bc -dot- ca

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