TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
How do we as tech writers discover what the user wants to do with the
system, before they know what the system can do?
Tony Markatos responds:
In any organization, the essential tasks to be performed are mechanism
independent. That is, they need to be done irregardless of how they are
done (i.e., manually, automatically, semi-automatically). This is a
fundamental principle of systems analysis (and is just as applicable to
a technical writer performing a task analysis). We discover these
essential tasks basically by "getting into the user head" and
understanding the decisions he/she has to make to get work done
Now granted, there is going to be a lot of tasks that result
specifically from the mechanism choosen. (For example, the task "Create
E-Mail" is only applicable when we have E-Mail software). But do not
focus on these subsidiary tasks in your analysis. If you do, I will
gaurantee that you will miss the critical essential (technology
independent) tasks. Once you have ID the essential tasks, it then is OK
to focus on the technology dependet tasks.
Tony Markatos
(tonymar -at- hotmail -dot- com)
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
