Re: Elegance

[Alexia Prendergast <alexiap -at- SEAGATESOFTWARE -dot- COM>]

Couldn't agree with Wayne more on this one -- good docs will uncover
flawed designs. I've learned with time that when I really struggle to
make a section of a book sound right, it's usually a design problem.

Also, as Wayne pointed out, never underestimate your users. Fatal
mistake.

A.

--
Alexia Prendergast
Tech Pubs Manager
Seagate Software (Durham  NC  USA)
mailto:alexiap -at- seagatesoftware -dot- com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wayne Douglass [SMTP:wayned -at- VERITY -dot- COM]
> Sent: Thursday, April 23, 1998 4:58 PM
> To:   TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject:      Re: Elegance
>
> 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.
>
>