Re: Elegance

Subject: Re: Elegance
From: Wayne Douglass <wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 13:58:07 -0700

At 03:50 PM 4/23/98 -0400, Ronni Geist wrote:

>Sorry, Wayne, but I beg to differ...
>
>Yet a good documentation team:
> * can make a difficult product easy to install and use

If the installation procedure sucks, your manual will map it exactly. I
remember getting a reader response card from the field complaining that the
installation procedure in the manual was too complicated. It was - but that
was how you installed the product.

> * can recommend troubleshooting fixes for when the hardware/
> software doesn't do things as you'd expect it should

And it will look like the kludge that it is.

> * can present it in a clear, concise, user-friendly manner
> (with screen shots, bullet/number lists, and a comprehensive
> TOC and Index) so that end-users don't realize that the product
> is nearly as bad as it really is.

I give end-users more credit than you do.

>I was the manager of a doc department. As they say,
> "Been there...done that!"
>
So have I.

--Wayne
---------------------------------------------
Wayne Douglass phone: 408-542-2139
Verity, Inc. FAX: 408-542-2040
894 Ross Road mailto:wayned -at- verity -dot- com
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 http://www.verity.com
---------------------------------------------




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