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Subject:Re: QUESTION: The Role of the Tech Writer From:Larry Weber <larry_weber -at- HOTMAIL -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 7 Nov 1997 06:58:22 PST
Wandajane asked: <<< ...we've begun to make a shift towards orienting
our information towards the user. But are we really smoothing the
transition? What if we know that using the product will be difficult for
a user?....Third party books address some of this, particularly for big
software titles. But is there any benefit to integrating this type of
assistance, or user advocacy, into our manuals and guides? >>>
(Note--this may be a software-industry-specific response)
I've also been considering this lately. We have a lot of opinions at my
company about HOW MUCH information we should provide in our doc. The
heart of the question for me is, WHAT IS THE BEST THING FOR THE
COMPANY?, since it is the company that provides my check, not the
individual user. Is it profitable for the company to have me adding
30-50% more information into the doc to ease the transition for
inexperienced users? What percentage of users really need this
information? What are the associated doc maintenance costs?
Despite the horror stories I've been through and those I've heard from
other TWs, I'm presently in the school of thought that the best
corporate software doc is that which is minimal in volume, easily
indexed/searchable etc., and complete for the "average user." Lacking
better measurement tools, pegging the knowledge level of the "average
user" may be the most valuable skill a TW can possess.
I notice that as this "information age" progresses, user interfaces, for
the most part, are improving and the line between PRODUCT and
DOCUMENTATION seems to be getting blurrier. For instance, is your
Windows reference manaul as "dog-eared" as your old DOS manual? If you
accept this premise, how does this transition affect the TW? Is the
progress of the "information age" pushing our value up or down? Will
this trend continue?
Larry Weber
larry_weber -at- hotmail -dot- com
The question to everyone's answer...is usually asked from within--Steve
Miller
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